The World's Strongest Man
by Thugs Bunny 009
Summary: Left alone as his friends all headed off to University, the ancestral son of Raizen grew bored one day, & decided to search for a purpose by scouting out strong reiki-signatures. Now his mini travel has brought him to a place known as Nerima. What adventures will Yusuke Urameshi, the fearless defender of justice, find himself in the city inhabited by super-powered martial artists.
1. Seeking a Purpose

**Disclaimer: I don't own YuYu Hakusho or Ranma.**

**Ran-chan/Yusuke/Keiko**

**Akane/Ryoga**

* * *

**The World's Strongest Man**

**Chapter one **

**Seeking a Purpose **

"Here you go, sir! Enjoy your meal!" Chirped the overenthusiastic attractive female cashier as she watched a young teenage boy rapidly nearing the end of his adolescent years pick up a tray holding a small bag of French fries, three cheese burgers, four chicken-legs, and two cokes after he had handed her the money for it in something akin to a grumpy manner.

"Yeah. I'll be sure to mail ya the bill after this sends me on a one-way trip to hell," Sarcastically grumbled the teenage boy while he meandered away from the giggling female and over to a table, looking at his meal with a comical scowl on his features, "Sheesh. Talk about a heart attack on a tray."

But as the boy sat down on a high stool and placed the tray on the table he added with a lackadaisical air around him, "…At least it's cheap." From there he lazily picked a couple of fries out of the bag and placed them into his mouth to chew on them and swallow them down his throat before doing the same to the rest.

From his gelled-back styled black hair and the clothes he was wearing it was clear the boy was one of those hooligans the senior-citizens watched out for, or at least that was what the dropped out boy's image implied.

His skin was tanned and his eyes were a dark chocolate colour. His teeth were sharpened, glinting in the sunlight peering through the windows of the restaurant-establishment.

He wore a long-sleeved green dress shirt underneath a yellow jumper, the edges of the shirt were seen hanging out of the bottom of the jumper and the sleeves could also be seen poking out of the yellow jumper since the boy had the long sleeves of the jumper rolled up as if he was expecting to be jumped at any given minute. A green cargo jacket, blue jeans, and a pair of sneakers completed the boy's appearance.

"Nineteen old Yusuke Urameshi, a middle school dropout, a fired detective, the captain of the champions Team Urameshi of the dark tournament, the _fearless defender _of justice, and quarter-finalist in the Makai-tournament is bored as hell…" The ancestral son of the now deceased Raizen more or less summed up his life in a bored tone.

It wasn't his fault that he failed middle school. The special defence force of King Enma had been given orders to lead him to Makai so they could seal the portal up, and thus lock him away forever, fearing the young boy's power could grow to the point where he could either take over the world to rule it with an iron fist or just outright destroy it.

The Mazoku-race was not to be taken lightly.

It was only thanks to Yusuke's bright idea to propose a tournament to decide a true king of Makai once and for all after he'd met and be trained by his godlike demon great (many greats) father Raizen before the legendary demon passed on that he was even freed from Makai in the first place.

Heh. Raizen was a sucker for love and that love led him to go on a hunger strike. The love of Raizen's life was a human-woman so it would've been wrong for the demon to devour any humans knowing he loved a human with all his heart.

But humans were Raizen's source of nutation and without them to fill his gut the powerful demon _eventually _withered away, and died; all to make a stand that demons should stop eating humans, and that was all inspired by Raizen's beloved.

Raizen's dream did come true though after his long-time friend Enki conquered the Makai-tournament Yusuke had founded to take place every three years to decide who the king of Makai should be in that period of time.

Peace between demons and humans had long last become a reality, and now overwhelmingly powerful upper S-class demons like Yusuke Urameshi and Kurama could journey in and out of Makai to be with their families, and friends waiting for them on the outside world.

If Yusuke thought he could get a peaceful life with his beloved Keiko-chan and good friends then he was wrong.

The time Yusuke had returned from Makai to be reunited with his childhood sweetheart the girl had been nearing the end years of High school and was heading on her way to university along with that lovable goof Kuwabara who surprisingly passed High school with flying colours while managing to push his power-level onto middle S-class.

Heh. Sensui ain't got nuthin on Kuwabara nowadays, Yusuke would muse.

Kurama, the smartest man Yusuke had ever known, easy, obviously kept up with his school work, passed middle school and high school with honours on both fronts, and was welcomed with open arms into a respectable university in Tokyo.

And Hiei was stuck on patrol duty, helping any wandering humans who mistakenly journeyed into Makai by erasing their minds of what they saw in Makai and dropping them back in the human-world.

Needlessly to say, Yusuke was bummed to be left alone. No job, no university, no friends to chill with, no nothing!

Boring!

The next Makai-tournament wasn't to be held for the next two years.

"This sucks, what's the point of having all this power if there ain't no one around to try my luck on," Yusuke grumbled, grabbing a chicken leg and greedily getting a bite out of it in a manner resembling a caveman.

'Can't go home 'cause mom will just nagged me to death 'bout not getting into Uni like Keiko and Kuwabara,' Yusuke mused, looking up at the ceiling like it would tell him the future.

'I mean what does she take me for, a professor?' Yusuke asked himself rhetorically, a comical look of annoyance coming to his features, 'I'm qualified for blowing shit up, not discovering the reasons for the dinosaurs' extinction.'

Yusuke sighed. He remained silent as he ate his meal with a deep look of concentration on his features, trying to avoid his mind getting clouded so he could consider his options of what to do for today, and the remaining days of Keiko's adventure in university.

Yusuke's mind came up blank even as he wolfed down his final cheeseburger and last ounce of unhealthy food.

"Aw, to hell with it; I'll just wing it. There've gotta be some interesting crack-pots I can let loose on around this globe of normal, I've just got to find 'em," Yusuke concluded, hopping off of the stool and tucking his hands into his pockets, leaving the tray littered with empty wrappings and bags where he left it as he coolly sauntered out of the restaurant.

His goal: to find some worthy opponents.

XxX

(Sometime Later)

Yusuke's long month journey brought him to a city similar to his own hometown, except this town had a canal and two well-known restaurants within it. Yusuke found it oddly intriguing when he saw a depressed black haired boy effortlessly, and casually walking on the fence blocking people from the canal.

The kid had some real balance to be able to do that, however his reiki-levels were laughably low, even lower than Yusuke's were when the delinquent boy first became a spirit detective.

Was that why he was so upset, because he was so weak for some inexplicable reason? The blue haired girl which was walking next to him at the time did seem sympathetic and tried to cheer him up until he apparently made some snide remark about her because her expression immediately turned sour.

Any consoling she was going to give the rude-boy was forgotten right there and then.

Besides that the girl was a decently strong fighter. If Yusuke had to measure her power he'd class her as a middle D-class fighter. She could without a doubt beat someone of Gouki's calibre but would be easily thrashed by someone of Genkai's calibre, even as old as she was.

"Alright. I'm gettin' somewhere." Yusuke murmured, still with his hands in his pockets as he walked the neighbourhood-area of the city which had taken him a month to arrive in, and that was only because Yusuke had casually ambled here rather than full on sprinted here. However, because Yusuke was so unbelievably fast a normal walk for him was an inhuman sprint to a normal person. His basic walk-speed was three hundred and thirty miles per hour.

The half-demon didn't realize that at the time and was completely oblivious to the gawking eyes within the passing cars he cruised right past.

"Here I should be able to get the ol' jet running up," Yusuke quipped, a smirk came to his features once his senses alerted him to the reiki-signature nearing closer to him inadvertently.

Spinning around Yusuke's battle-ready gaze landed on a boy ambling forward with a lost expression on his face. He had black hair, two bangs of his hair framing his face, a yellow bandana wrapped around his forehead, a sleeveless yellow tank-top; black trousers, black shoes, a brown backpack on his back, and a red umbrella sheathed in his bag.

"Now where am I?" The boy wondered to himself as he surveyed the surroundings, "Oh Akane-chan. Where are you? It's been so long since I last saw you, and I miss you."

"Bingo," Yusuke smirked. He was about to stroll up to the boy, and challenge him to a sparring match until the lost-boy passed some little old lady who had a weird habit of splashing water on the sidewalk without watching to see if someone was walking in the part she was chucking water at for one reason or the next not even the lord knew.

Now normally someone getting doused with cold water wouldn't have thrown Yusuke off, hell the rude-boy would've laughed his ass off, and carried on in his merry way, but when someone got showered in cold water and immediately transformed into a small black piglet was always bound to set off alarm bells in Yusuke's head.

"Huh?" Yusuke let out in a dumbed fashion as he walked up to the now small piglet who was struggling to dry itself off.

Yusuke took notice to the yellow bandana wrapped around the piglet's neck, "Whaddya know, ya can learn something new every-day," Yusuke said to no one in particular, raising his eyebrow once the piglet flinched and turned its head to look at him with wide eyes.

Yusuke bent down and plucked the struggling piglet off of the ground, staring at it with a frown on his features, "Well I'm slumped. Are ya my dinner?" The piglet rapidly shook its head with sweat bullets raining down its face, "So I guess that means I ain't losing my marbles. You really did just go from a dude to a potential turkey dinner at the touch of a little water eh."

The piglet frantically nodded its head, sweating nervously at the mention of a turkey dinner.

"So what now, you stuck this way, or what?" The piglet shook its head, "You can change back?" The piglet nodded its head at Yusuke's question, prompting him to turn his head to the cause of the strange boy's transformation.

"Will that do the trick?" Yusuke wondered and the piglet shook its head, "Eh. So water won't reverse the effects?" The piglet jerked its little head from side to side in the negative, "It will eh," The piglet squealed and nodded its head in confirmation, "Just not ice cold water, is that what you're trying to inform me?"

The piglet squealed and nodded its head.

"Guess ya need to be roasted in hot water to turn back eh." Yusuke stated and the piglet whined, but gave another meekly nod in confirmation before Yusuke effortlessly lifted up the transformed boy's belongings which had fallen off of him due to his shrunken body.

The piglet gulped at the mysterious boy's show of strength as Yusuke wielded his heavy umbrella, backpack, clothes, and shoes all in one hand.

"Alright. Legs go find ya some hot water then," Yusuke said, much to the piglet's delight before it felt cold water hitting its and Yusuke's forms, causing Yusuke to become enraged as he spun around to the little old lady, "Hey, watch where you're spraying that thing lady! This ain't exactly a car-wash, y'know!"

The old lady just looked up at Yusuke with a pleasant smile on her face as she gestured to her ear, "What's that sunny? You hear something?" Yusuke and the piglet just stared at the old woman with an aura of awkwardness around them.

"Uhhhh. Nuthin'." Yusuke eventually dismissed the matter since he'd more pressing issues to deal with, "Hey, lady, you gotta furo in there or what?"

"Hmm. What's that? You want a cup of tea?" The old lady asked ignorantly, spinning on her heels to walk back into her house.

"No! I said have ya gotta a ba-."

"Come along child. It's been a while since I've had good company," The woman murmured, seemingly ignoring Yusuke's real reason for wanting to tread in her home as she sauntered into her house and left the door open for Yusuke to walk in.

"Geez. I wonder why that is, eh? Maybe if you booked an appointment at the doc's to fix your broken glasses and hearing-aid you wouldna be avoided like the plague." Yusuke quipped under his breath and the piglet squealed in agreement.

"…Oh well." Yusuke sighed, taking his first few steps to the house with the piglet and the piglet's things in hand, "Legs get ya fixed up, dude."

XxX

"Make yourself at home dear. The tea will be ready in thirty minutes," The old lady's voice rang out from somewhere in the tidy, neat little home once Yusuke had ventured into it.

"With pleasure." Yusuke grumbled. Not long after saying that did the half-demon find the bathroom located on the bottom room of the little ancient lady's house, "Figures, the old bag's about as stable as a pile of bricks," Yusuke quipped, walking into the furo and chucking the lost-boy's belongings on the ground.

The piglet and Yusuke cringed at the sight of the ground getting ruptured from the heavy belongings Yusuke had carelessly thrown to the ground.

"Damn lil guy, you sure come packing, don't ya?" Yusuke asked in a jestingly manner, but the piglet just remained frozen solid.

Upon walking over to the bath Yusuke switched on the hot water and coolly turned his back on it and began walking over to the wall as if giving the water some time to heat up.

Once Yusuke could feel the stream filling the furo he knew the water was hot enough for the piglet to transform back into his human-form, so Yusuke coolly chucked the piglet over his shoulder and into the bath with a splash.

"Phew. I thought I was a goner back there for sure." A relieved sigh came from behind Yusuke, sounding very much like the voice Yusuke had heard before it was muted out due to the cold water turning the boy into a small piglet, "Thanks. I owe you one…"

"Yusuke. Yusuke Urameshi," Yusuke introduced himself, leaning up against the wall and pulling out a box of cigarettes and a lighter from his pocket before taking out one cigarette from the box, putting it by his mouth and lighting it up while the naked boy started to redress himself.

"Ryoga Hibiki," The boy had the politeness to introduce himself since Yusuke told him his name. "Thanks for the save I guess," It was a little bit awkward talking to a stranger who had been somewhat aware of his cursed form beforehand. Most people would usually pick up Ryoga in his cursed form and attempt to cook him rather than ask him if he could change back.

Of course once they threw him in the boiling hot water they had prepared to roast Ryoga, he would instantly turn back into his human form and be enraged as hell and ready to murder someone for his suffering.

That was usually the bane of his existence.

…Saotome.

So it was understandable why Ryoga felt a little meek in the powerful black haired man's presence. Add to the fact Ryoga sensed an incredible amount of Ki just oozing off of this young man in front of him the moment he stepped in front of his piglet's form.

'My Ki doesn't even come close to this guy's. He's like a living god compared to Saotome and myself,' Ryoga mused, staring at Yusuke as if he were some deity from above.

Ryoga couldn't even begin to clasp the concept of measuring the teenage boy's enormous amount of Ki to his own, 'This guy's… something else.'

"No props," Yusuke brushed it off, coolly taking a drag from his cigarette while Ryoga nodded a little tentatively, "Tell me something, since I'm new here and all. You owe me a little info at least."

"Oh right," Ryoga snapped at attention hastily, but meekly, "What do you need to know?"

"How did ya do that?"

"Do what?"

"Y'know, go from a potential punching bag for me to release my frustrations on to someone else's dinner, eh. You cursed or something?" Yusuke guessed, making Ryoga gulp. This guy wanted to spar with him.

Screw that!

Yusuke would kill him.

"Oh, well, you see-," Ryoya started to explain, pushing his index fingers together as if it would buy him some-time to think of how to elucidate to Yusuke how he transformed into a piglet after getting doused with cold water so Yusuke could be sated enough to not want to beat the information out of him.

"I'm all ears," Yusuke assured, being patient with the shy boy.

As Ryoga thought of a way to break down his dilemma to Yusuke, he felt his shyness slowly lift to be replaced by righteous fury just thinking of the person who was the reason why he was having this awkward conversation with a supreme being of immense power in the first place. Anger suddenly filled Ryoga's eyes at the thought of the cause who got him cursed, so the lost-boy just seethed furiously, "Saotome!"

"Saotome?" Yusuke blinked, prompting Ryoga to elaborate on the matter.

"It's all that damn ingrate's fault for knocking me in the Jusenkyo Spring of Drowned Piglet! Arghhhh! Curse him! Curse him to hell!" Ryoga screamed furiously, causing Yusuke to blink before he took another drag of his cigarette.

"And where're these 'Jusenkyo Springs of Drowned Pigs'?" Quoted Yusuke.

"China, and there's only one drowned piglet spring to my knowledge Yusuke-san. The one I fell into," Ryoga raged, balling his hand into a fist, and digging his nails into his skin at the thought of Ranma's smirking face. The smug bastard.

"I'm just gonna take a wild guess here but what the fuck was ya doing in China?" Yusuke asked.

"To seek vengeance on that spineless coward Saotome!"

"Huh?"

"Yeah! He had the audacity to steal my bread at lunch time when we were in middle school together, and when I finally had enough of his mockery of me, I challenged him to a fight; but he turned tail and ran on the fourth day I arrived in the place we promised to do battle at! The scum!"

Yusuke immediately face-faulted once hearing the lost-boy's reasoning for wanting revenge against this Saotome-boy.

"You mean this kid Saotome waited three days for you to show up at the battlefield to whoop your ass?" Yusuke asked to make sure he had this right as he gawked at Ryoga's stupidity, 'Damn. I think I feel bad for this Saotome-guy. Ryoga's a bigger doofus than Kuwabara was.'

But there was only one way to make sure and that was for Ryoga to confirm Saotome lost patience and just left before he could get there on the fourth day.

"Damn straight! That scary cat turned yellow belly, and ran by the time I got there!" Ryoga raged.

Check.

"What the hell were you doing in the time Saotome was doing his nails, hiking through a desert?" Yusuke asked, but Ryoga bypassed that question in favour of hitting the side of the bathtub with his fist in frustration.

"Damn Saotome. He doesn't deserve an angel such as Akane-chan," Ryoga muttered.

"Akane eh, who's she, your lady-friend?" Yusuke wondered with a small smirk on his face.

"She should be!" Ryoga shouted. The more he spoke with Yusuke the more comfortable the normally shy boy became to the point where he was willing to shred his protective shell and roar his feelings for the youngest Tendo to a guy he had just met. After all it wasn't like Yusuke knew Akane Tendo, so Ryoga somewhat felt safe that his dirty little secret would be kept hidden from the goddess known as…

…Akane Tendo.

The youngest Tendo deserved nothing less but the best.

"Whoa, easy there Tiger, no need to burst my ear-drums out," Yusuke joked while holding up his hands in something akin to a placating manner, an easy-going grin on his face.

Ryoga might have been startled that should a powerful fighter hadn't scolded him for more or less shouting in his face if the adrenaline-rush wasn't threatening to carry him to the other side of the planet and back again.

"Akane-chan shows nothing but kindness to the scumbag Saotome, but he replays her kindness by treating her like dirt!" Ryoga roared with a fist pumped up in the air and at this point Yusuke's grin had turned sheepish seeing the kittle of Ryoga evolve into a fearsome tiger at the mention of his princess, Akane Tendo!

'Wow, this guy sure did a 180, women I guess. He's a sucker for love.' Yusuke mused with an amused smirk on his lips. He could certainly relate to that, "Well if you care so much for your princess, why don't you flatten the douchebag-Saotome's ass like a bulldozer. I'm sure this Akane-girl would be all over you if you did."

The anger drained out of Ryoga, leaving a pitiful expression on his face, "It's not that simple Yusuke-san."

"Oh yeah. How ya figure? Come now, share with the rest of the class," Yusuke urged.

"Saotome, he's a," Ryoga tried to find the words, but his confidence was leaving him. Fast.

"He's a… what now?" Yusuke probed deeper into the matter.

Ryoga hastily twisted his head to the side to hide the shame on his face, "A no good cheater!"

Yusuke immediately understood the implications of that, "Ah. So he whoops your ass, eh."

"Not helping Yusuke-san," Ryoga deadpanned.

Yusuke chuckled, "Haha. Alright. Steady the sails, Ryo. 'Cause ya seem like a decent guy-," 'Pathetic more like,' Yusuke corrected himself mentally, "-I've decided to lend ya a helping hand so ya can score your princess, and show this Saotome-guy who's the big-cheese between you two, you feel me?"

Hope filled Ryoga's eyes, "You'd do that for me?"

"Sure. I ain't got nuthin else better to do with my time. I can cross charity-work off of my good deeds list of which will hopefully see me rise to the luxury hotel up in the big blue sky when I eventually kick the bucket." Yusuke quipped, Ryoga nodding almost lifelessly along.

"Say, where does this Saotome-guy live anyway? I'd like to introduce him to my knuckles," Yusuke said, smirking while he cracked his knuckles, making Ryoga gulp before a devious idea struck the lost-boy like thunder.

Yusuke could give Saotome the righteous beating the arrogant boy had been begging for.

"Oh. Well Saotome lives in the Tendo Dojo with Akane-chan and her family," Ryoga explained, suddenly feeling very small once Yusuke turned incredulous eyes onto him, "Well Akane-chan and Saotome are being forced to wed because their folks want to merge their dojos or something."

"Damn. An arranged married eh, did their elephant-god from above order 'em to wed their children?" Yusuke asked, "On second thought don't answer that one." Yusuke hastily added as he rounded his arm in a circular motion to prepare himself to evaluate Saotome's skills, knowing he would need a rough idea of Saotome's fighting-style so he could train Ryoga to counter it effectively.

"I've got enough bad karma as it is," Yusuke grumbled while Ryoga looked at him in a dumbed fashion, "So shall we head off to this dance V.I.P-style and show this Saotome-punk who's top dog around these parts."

"You mean right now?!" Ryoga hadn't been expecting to face the bane of his existence so soon.

"Yeah. I'm itching for a decent warm-up," Yusuke smirked.

Oh. Yusuke wanted to take on Saotome. That was good.

"Oh. Well you see I'm not sure how to get back to Nerima," Ryoga murmured timidly.

"Where?"

"The city where the Tendo Dojo is? I've been lost for weeks now, it's another curse of mine I fear," Ryoga said.

Yusuke could feel Ryoga's reiki-signature heavily clouded and shrouded by depression.

The kid obviously had a sad life.

"No problemo, Ryo. You make yourself comfy here and I'll go find this Nerima-joint so I can kick Saotome's ass. Be back soon you hear?" Yusuke asked, making Ryoga shoot his head up to look at Yusuke with a gawking expression on his face but before Ryoga could ask what he was meant to do in this old lady's house Yusuke was gone like the wind.

"Man he's so fast. Saotome doesn't stand a chance in hell against him." Ryoga gasped and as much as that should've made him happy, it didn't because he knew deep in his heart that Akane-chan would be upset if Saotome was made to look like a baby against a powerful foe.

It pained Ryoga to admit that his precious Akane-chan cared for that jerk Saotome.

"Oh Akane-chan, I'm so sorry you must be put through this my dear. I promise once all is said and done we can be together and happy, I promise my love." Ryoga mused dreamily, literally falling into daydreaming mode as he imagined a life of him and Akane: a life where they were married, had three kids, they owned the Tendo Dojo, she kissed him goodbye before he headed off to work, and she looked up to him as if he were truly a god among men.

Ah. Ignorance is bless.

Back in reality, Ryoga glanced around the bathroom with confusion evident on his face.

"Now how do I get out of here?"

* * *

**Alright. That's the prologue. Please review, and tell me what you think. And yeah I think Ryoga deserves Akane more than Ranma. Ranma's more of a sister/brother to Akane than a husband. **

**Yusuke at 20% of his power released.**

**Destructive power - Country level plus**

**Speed - Massively hypersonic plus**

**Durability - Country level plus**


	2. A New King in the Hood

**Disclaimer: I don't own YuYu Hakusho or Ranma 1/2. **

* * *

**Chapter 2**

**A New King in the Hood**

"It's a official, Ryoga's A-class dumbass," Yusuke grumbled.

Not long ago had the former spirit detective discovered he was in Nerima all along after he ignorantly asked an old geezer where he was.

Beforehand the half demon had foolishly left Nerima and journeyed elsewhere around Japan in the hopes of finding the Tendo Dojo, after that didn't work out his senses brought him back to the town playing host to all kinds of crazy reiki-signatures, for better or for worse.

Yusuke released a sigh from his lips, "Well at least I sniffed out the dojo," Yusuke said, standing beside a short four-sided wall blocking an easy entrance to what he believed was the Tendo Dojo's back garden, "Only one way to find out," Yusuke smirked, wiping his nose with his thumb, "It's time for my fist to make an appointment with Saotome's face!"

"Gimme that chart old man!"

A curious look came to Yusuke's face hearing the shrieking command of a young girl on the other side of the wall.

"Sounds like the party's started already," Yusuke mumbled to himself.

Yusuke's eyebrow rose in curiosity once he sensed the 'girl''s reiki-signature, "Now that's odd. Either I need therapy sessions, or that emo-boy I saw earlier today suddenly hit high notes," Or he could have fallen into some magical grave pool of a drowned girl or boy, like how Ryoga fell into one and became a potential roast cook dinner.

"Are there more of those burial ponds thingumajigs around China," Yusuke wondered to himself, cupping his chin with his hand as he pondered Ryoga's explanation of how he became a half-boy, half-piglet.

Ryoga did say there was only one spring in Jusenkyo probably containing the dead skeleton of a piglet, thus cursing it for life and all those who fall into it.

"Ranma you can stay a hopeless weakling for all your life for all I care."

Yusuke looked up to see a very short reddened-skinned, nearly bald old man, except for the fluffy white hair stretching from one ear to the next behind his head, and the pencil-shaped moustache, wearing a nondescript-looking dark purple gi with a black sash tied around his waist and black shoes on his feet.

From the scornful look on the old man's face and voice Yusuke could tell something must have gone down on the other side of this wall the old man was standing on.

"No," The same feminine voice as before, which was probably this Ranma-person the old man dismissed, wailed pitifully.

The old man didn't look merciful in any sense of the word.

"Grandpa Happosai!" Yusuke recognized that girlish voice as the girl who was trying to cheer up the emo-boy earlier before giving up and turning away from him in contempt, "Don't worry, Ranma, we'll get that pressure point chart off of grandpa Happosai one way or the other. You'll see."

"What's the use Akane? The old geezer ain't budging," Ranma murmured miserably, the old man identified as Happosai just stared disdainfully at Ranma, "I'm gonna be at the bottom of the food-chain for the rest of my days on this stinking planet."

"I was just trying to help!" Akane defended her actions righteously.

"Well you shouldna! Who would need an uncute tomboy's help like yours anyway?" Ranma shot back sourly.

"Arghhhhh!"

"I wish I had some popcorn now," Yusuke muttered to himself, rubbing his nostrils with his index finger while a smirk came to his face, "I think I just found myself some entertainment. Haha."

Yusuke's mutterings caught Happosai's attention and the old man turned to him curiously, "Whatcha standing around here fella?"

Happosai's instincts alerted him to impending doom as Yusuke's self-satisfied smile hardened into a malevolent grin, the wolf-esque fangs poking out of Yusuke's mouth made Happosai blanch, "Ah. Nuthin' you need to rally the troops 'bout old geezer," Yusuke lied expertly, casually bending down and picking up a pebble.

Happosai visibly let out a sigh of relief, "Phew. I thought you were here to assist that disrespectful Ranma."

"Is that so?" Yusuke asked, a dark tone creeping into his voice which the old man remained oblivious to.

"Roger! She won't respect her elders!" The ancient man whimpered, reaching into his gi and pulling out a frilly bra, "And all I wanted her to do is put on a cute bra for me! Is that so much to ask for? Adolescents are supposed to respect their elders!"

"Ya hit the jackpot with that old geezer," Yusuke smiled ghostly, causing Happosai to smile victoriously as he placed his hands on his hips and held his nose in the air, "It's just a darn shame that-," Yusuke let his actions finish off his speech by launching the pebble at Happosai at a blinding speed, forcing blood out of the old man's forehead and pushing him into the garden once again after the super, super-duper bullet-esque pebble connected resoundingly with Happosai's forehead.

"Ayaaaa!"

"…That same rule doesn't apply to a withered up shrimp who doesn't even come up to my knee."

XxX

(Moments Earlier – Tendo Dojo – Back Garden)

"Arghhhhh!" Akane raged with her nearly shoulder-lengthened tomboyish blue hair rustling slightly as she stomped her foot angrily on the ground. She had fair skin, dark eyes filled with exasperation and aimed at the kneeling red haired girl, curvaceous hips, cc-cup breasts, and sharply legs.

Despite her tomboyish hair and tomboy nickname given to her by Ranma, Akane wore a bright yellow blouse underneath a red dress, a nice sun flower hat on her head, and red slip-on shoes on her feet. Her attire and overall complexion spoke of femininity, contrary to Ranma's insult of her being a tomboy.

"I was trying to support you idiot!" Akane scolded the redhead.

The redhead looked up at Akane with her blue eyes blazing with fury, "Who do ya think you're talking to tomboy? I ain't no baby!" Ranma's luscious red hair fell to her mid-back and was tied in a pigtail. Her skin was also light like Akane's, but Ranma wore clothes more suited to displaying the prowess of a martial artist.

A red silk Chinese top, black silky loose pants, and black slip-on shoes was Ranma's choice of clothing. It did nothing to hide the diminutive redhead's shapely hips and D-cup breasts.

"Well you sure act like one Ranma-idiot!"

"Who asked ya for your input, _dummy_?!"

"…I guess it's back to the drawing board, eh Saotome?" Depressively sighed a middle-aged man who looked like he'd been spending too much time in the sun like the middle-aged man next to him named Saotome and the old man on the wall known as Happosai.

His black straightened long hair fell to his back and matched his black moustache. He wore a dark grey karate-styled gi with matching pants, and martial arts shoes on his feet.

Standing on one side of the black haired man was the one he'd addressed as Saotome and on his other side were his two lovely daughters, one with a pleasant smile on her face as she quietly fretted at the squabbling Akane and Ranma, and the other one had an ice-cold nonchalant look on her face as she looked at Happosai who seemed to be engaged in a conversation with someone.

Saotome appeared to have a deep look of concentration on his face.

The bespectacled man was bald without an ounce of hair on his head, but he shamefully covered his bald head with a white bandanna. His skin also looked very sun-burned like the black haired man's and Happosai's skins. Saotome wore a white karate-styled white top, karate-esque white pants, and a black belt tied around his waist. For whatever reason he didn't wear shoes and left the karate-styled top open a bit to show-off his rather chubby chest.

Saotome was probably hoping to woo some lady with his fat self.

A man can dream.

Saotome's pseudo-focused look only lasted a minute before he broke into tears.

"Waa. Waa. How could the master do that to my lifelong work? I dedicated years into turning my boy into a man among men, and m'boy let the master ruin it!" The bald man known as Genma Saotome whimpered, drawing his son-turned-daughter's attention onto him, "My son's such a disappointment! Waa. Waa. Waa."

A shoe to the forehead momentarily silenced the bawling Genma, "You're one to talk, ya stupid old man! Ya think I wanted that dirty letch of an old geezer to zap me of my hard-earned strength!"

Genma looked at Ranma and frowned disappointingly, "You're a disgrace boy, letting the master do that to you! I've taught you better than that! Now look at yourself, wallowing like a girl! Haven't I always taught you already that everything can be used for training purposes?!"

"Ugh!" Ranma raged.

"Saotome quieten down! The master might hear you!" Soun Tendo chided his long-time friend with an aura of worry around him.

"Whoops," Genma said and dropped to his knees, bowing his head to the old man standing atop of the wall in a cowardly manner, "I'm sorry master, I didn't know what came over me! Please forgive me master!"

"Oh my, uncle Saotome," The teenage girl with a polite smile on her face said sympathetically. She had chocolate brown hair falling to her back with a white hair-bobble tied neatly at the end of her hair, and gentle blue eyes. She wore a baby blue dress underneath a white cooking apron and white sandals on her feet.

"Boy, aren't you the paragon of righteousness, old man," Ranma quipped with sarcasm dipping into her voice, causing her father to growl at her, but otherwise keep his head firmly glued to the ground to avoid the master's wrath.

"Yes, that's the perfect position to be in Saotome-san since the old fool's 'looking' exactly at you," The middle Tendo daughter of Soun sarcastically told Genma, to which earned her several raised eyebrows.

The moneymaking wannabe business girl had brown hair like her sister Kasumi Tendo, only hers fall to her shoulders, she also had disinterested brown eyes, and she wore a green loose women-top, a frilly lacy bra-top, white short shorts, and sneakers on her feet. Like her sisters the girl's skin was light and she had sharply legs and C-cup breasts.

"What do you mean Nabiki?" Akane asked curiously, but Nabiki only languidly pointed at Happosai, making the others look to see the old man with his back turned to them.

"You don't say? The master's actually having a conversation with someone?" Soun asked while cupping his chin with his hand, a calm pensive expression on his face.

"Preposterous! Our master's too evil and thoughtless to have social interaction with an acquaintance! He hasn't a kind bone in his entire body!" Genma was quick to shoot down that ridiculous notion with 100% conviction in his voice.

"What are we waiting for, a bus? He's still detracted isn't he? Legs ninja the old-freak and pick-pocket the pressure point chart off of him!" Ranma quipped loudly, a fire of resolution lighting up her eyes. She still had a small glimmer of a chance to regain the strength she had worked so hard to gain in all her years of training with her father since she could walk.

Although those years Ranma had been training she'd been a boy, not a half boy, half girl.

Stupid old man.

And stupid Jusenkyo curse.

"Ayaaaa!"

Happosai's weep of pain disrupted Ranma's train of thought. The redhead along with the others watched in shock as Happosai practically flew back into the back garden with a trail of dark red liquid leaking from his forehead.

"Master!" Soun and Genma called out reflexively. He was still their master as much as the two middle-aged men resented and feared him, they had to show some concern, if only so the master wouldn't see a need to batter them until they couldn't walk. Or worse…

…Make Genma and Soun do his dirty work for him.

"Oh my, whatever could have hit grandpa Happosai?" Kasumi wondered gently, looking at the tiny old man with a hint of concern in her eyes.

Akane peered closer at the hurt old man and noticed the red liquid pouring down from his busted open forehead, "Hey, I think grandpa Happosai is bleeding." This revoked a surprising reaction from both her father and uncle Saotome.

"What?" Soun and Genma gawked.

"S-someone p-possibly i-injured t-the m-master," Soun drawled stutteringly. His and Genma's whole bodies trembled while hope filled their eyes, "S-Saotome, d-do you realize what this means?"

"Y-yes," Genma stammered, "We could be rid of the evil master for good!"

Tears ran down Soun's eyes, "Oh how I've longed to see this day, we shall celebrate with a bottle of sake and a game of shogi!"-

Genma grinned and patted his old friend on his shoulder, "My thoughts exactly, Tendo old friend."

Soun and Genma happily, and blissfully turned around to amble back inside with their arms wrapped around their shoulders, laughing jollily.

"Hey, it ain't over until we get that pressure point chart off of the old freak!" reminded Ranma, causing the two over-enjoyed men to pause in their tracks.

Happosai winced in a babyish manner, "Ouch. You tricked me! That's not fair, you hoodlum!"

"Master!"

*Splash*

Soun cried fearfully, dropping onto his knees and bowing profusely to Happosai while Genma hopped into the pond and emerged as a big white and black panda before joining Soun in pleading to their master for his forgiveness.

*I'm just a helpless panda!* The panda bowing to Happosai held up a wooden sign he seemingly pulled out of nowhere with the aforementioned words engraved on it. The panda rose its head long enough to reveal tears running down _its_ eyes.

"Dad…" Akane muttered with a scowl of annoyance on her face at her father's shameless, pitiful display of begging.

"Really, daddy?" Nabiki deadpanned, "You two really do need to grow a backbone."

"Oh father," Kasumi reprimanded demurely and quietly.

Kasumi's words of disapproval were definitely the most painful Soun felt.

Fortunately for Genma, his own daughter was too busy observing the spot of where Happosai had been thrown off, trying to surmise what could cause the annoying, but overly powerful ancient martial artist to fall off of the wall like that.

"Hn. What could make the old freak bleed like that?" Ranma asked herself, eyeing the spot Happosai was now standing in and only spotting a small pebble, "A pebble."

"Hm. Were you saying something, Ranma?" Akane asked pensively, but Ranma ignored her in flavour of listening to Happosai rant.

"Grrr, you better come out now, you little delinquent. I'll teach you to respect your elders," Happosai bitched commandingly.

"Your wish is my command, old mousey," They heard someone say in a mocking tone.

"Who said that?" Akane asked.

She didn't have to wait long as a black haired teen around Kasumi's age landed on top of the Tendo Dojo's wall in an impressive show of flexibility.

"Yo, Gramps, you rang?" The boy inquired in a taunting manner.

A pensive expression adorned Nabiki Tendo's features as the attentive girl took in the boy's appearance. Tanned-skin, combed back black hair, and rebellious-looking clothes. Could it be who Nabiki Tendo thought it was?

Nabiki had always been about making money, even it meant she'd need to sell out her own family to do so, bet on fights, horse-races, or even selling pictures of her own sister, Akane, and Ranma-chan to an illusion boy who gave off the feeling that he along with his entire family were escapees from a mental institution.

Whatever method worked to bring in the bills, Nabiki Tendo was using it.

The gold-digger even had agents around different schools running a betting operation. One of those schools was Sarayashiki Junior High school where the renowned and very much feared Yusuke Urameshi attended.

Nabiki had won a lot of money from Yusuke's fights. If this boy turned to be _thee _Yusuke Urameshi then Nabiki Tendo could find herself in a lot of trouble. No one fucked with Yusuke Urameshi. No one.

Nabiki knew that Yusuke knew she had been making a profit off of him because the money coming back to her from her little minions were always 70% less than what it should have been, which meant Yusuke had discovered Nabiki's follower betting on his fights and cornered her until she gave him his fair cut.

'Well it's looks like I'm screwed,' Nabiki mused as she schooled her emotions to remain calm and collected in the face of danger, 'Or maybe not. He still has to go through daddy and Saotome-san before he can get to me.' Somehow that _didn't _reassure her of her safely.

"Oh my, grandpa Happosai has a grandson," Kasumi stated with her hand covering her mouth.

"I never knew the master had any children to begin with," Soun said to Kasumi before he looked at Genma, "Genma did you know of this?"

"No. The master hasn't an ounce of kindness in his body. It's obvious this boy's as disrespectful as my boy," Genma murmured, turning his head to give his son-turned-daughter a disappointed look.

"That's Happosai-sama to you, you little whippersnapper!" Happosai bitched angrily, balling his hands into fists at Yusuke's smug grin, "Argh! I'll teach you to respect your elders you riff-raff!"

"Respect? Kinda a hard thing to give to a dwarf-geezer who doesn't even come up to my knee eh," Yusuke taunted.

"Well I guess that proves whose side he's on," Ranma mumbled, looking at Yusuke with a pensive expression on her cute face and wondering how he knocked Happosai off of that wall so easily, judging by Happosai's reaction, 'The guy mowed the old freak off of the wall with nuthin' more but a freaking pebble. How'd he do that?'

Happosai pouted furiously, looking like a mad children who couldn't get his way, "Ohhh! I'll teach you to respect me! Then I'll make you go out and bring me my one true treasure: the bras and panties of pretty ladies!"

Soun and Genma winced, feeling sorry for the poor boy about to face Happosai's wrath, while Ranma and Akane raged silently at Happosai's perversion.

"Y'know, I sure hope that guy pimp-slaps the old freak into next week," Ranma muttered and for once the youngest Tendo had to agree with her fiancé.

"For once, we agree Ranma," Akane replied dryly.

Happosai, oblivious to Ranma-chan's and Akane's ire, leaped at Yusuke with a fist clenched to hammer the cocky grin off of his face. It reminded the old man too much of Ranma's _fake, infinitely inferior, _male form.

"Take this brat!" Happosai shouted, his fist flying to Yusuke's face, but only hit a finger as big as his whole little fist, "Grrr!"

"What was that 'bout making me do your dirty work, Mr pervy smurf?" Yusuke remarked mockingly, Happosai scowling furiously at him, "I didn't quite catch that with your bitching and all," Yusuke's smirk was driving Happosai's nuts at this point, much to the gawks of the martial artists of Soun, Genma, Akane, and Ranma.

"What? Cat got your tongue midget geezer?" Yusuke mocked the old pervert.

"I don't believe it! He blocked grandpa Happosai's punch with just his right index finger!" Akane pointed out the obvious with her gaping expression increasing by the second.

"Gee. Thank you captain-obvious," Ranma quipped dryly, rolling her eyes as Akane glared at her, "This guy, just how he is so strong that he can manhandle the old freak like that?"

Akane sighed, "I wish I knew Ranma. But hey, just be grateful he can. That way we can get the pressure point chart off of grandpa Happosai!" Akane smiled brightly, making Ranma's eyes go wide at the rationing thought of one Akane Tendo.

"For once you make a valid point instead of lettin' off hot air," Ranma said, a smirk crossing her face while Akane frowned at her. The anti-social redheaded girl always had to insult her in one form or the next.

Ranma batted her eyelashes at Yusuke to make her eyes glow in a sparkling radiance of happiness, "Alright! Kick his ass, man! Mister, I dunno who you are, but I don't care, 'cause today you're my hero!" Ranma gushed with delightedness at Yusuke's dominating display of Happosai.

"Pervert." Akane muttered distastefully.

Boys could be so icky.

"Looks like I got my own cheerleader," Yusuke smirked at the straining look on Happosai's face as if he was trying to will Yusuke's index finger to break with his mind alone. Due to the height difference Yusuke had to bend his knees to keep his finger connected to Happosai's fist as gravity took over and brought the incredibly diminutive preverted martial artist to his feet.

"Traitor!" Happosai screamed.

The old man pulled his fist back and slammed his other one at Yusuke, only to be left exasperated again once Yusuke blocked it with his same finger.

Stubborn and resilient to the end, Happosai just started letting off a bombardment of flying rocket-esque punches with enough power to eradicate buildings into pieces, all in the hopes he could land at least one blow on the annoying brat who dared to spoil his fun.

Happosai could feel his frustration building up inside of him and he gnashed his teeth at the sight of his blurry punches getting parried away from a boy's mere index finger as if Happosai was an ant beneath the insanely strong boy's feet. The wall was starting to crumble from the force of Happosai's punches colliding with Yusuke's index finger.

"Damn. That old letch can't even hit this guy!" Ranma awed. The black haired teenage boy was clearly the strongest person Ranma had ever saw, 'Meh. I bet I coulda took on the old letch and this guy if I had my strength.'

"Saotome are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Soun trembled out of eager anticipation.

*Grr.* Genma growled affirmatively, trying to contain his look of thoughtless, but the sight of his old master/tormentor finally getting what he had coming to him was enough to send Genma's excitement skyrocketing. Genma held up a sign, *The old troll is paying for all his sins against us! This boy is our saviour! Praise him! Praise him!*

Soun covered his eyes with his forearm as tears poured down his eyes, "I never thought this day would come! How I've longed to see it! Thank you lad! Thank you lad!" Soun profusely thanked Yusuke.

Genma's sign flipped around to reveal more words, *Yes! Pandas everywhere are in your debt!*

"Oh father," Kasumi smiled lightly at Soun.

"Grrrr!" Happosai growled exasperatedly, and by this point the entire side of the four-sided wall(s) they were on was literally a mess of spider-webs, "Hold still so I can wallop you one already, brat!" Happosai's fist was abruptly caught halfway to Yusuke's index finger by the very same finger and a thumb helping it hold Happosai's fist in place effortlessly.

"Sure."

"Huh?"

"Will ya be paying in cash or by credit card for your licence to hit card?"

"Panties, I guess, fella?"

Happosai felt a bulldozing hit hammer his nose in and force a sickening pop to reverberate through the air, causing Ranma, Akane, Genma, and Soun to wince reflexively, while Happosai was knocked to the grassy ground from the force of Yusuke's hit. Grass was usually a safe place to land, however the amount of power Yusuke packed into his finger-poke to Happosai's nose, made the old man's landing place feel like solid metal!

A boulder-sized crater opened up underneath the hurt Happosai and quaked the ground enough to throw the others off balance. Soun reacted accordingly to grab his two non-martial artist daughters in Kasumi and Nabiki by their shoulders to keep them from falling over.

Akane and Ranma were skilled enough in the martial arts to regain their own balances without assistance while animal-Genma fell helplessly to the ground.

"Oh my," Kasumi gasped, feeling her father's shaky hand on her arm which kept her from falling over, "I'm going to have to order new grass."

"I think you'll have to order more than that if this fight continues, Kasumi-dear," Soun muttered like he felt car-sick as he removed his hands from his daughters' arms, sighing at the little demonstration of the black haired boy's destructive power, "I do believe the lad's hiding more power than that if he can do this much with only his finger."

"But papa, perhaps he isn't too bad. I mean he is only using his finger after all to knock grandpa Happosai down," Akane said in defence of the strange powerhouse boy who made Ranma look like a baby in comparison to a grown man.

"That's true dear. Perhaps the lad isn't so bad," Soun confirmed sagely, while the black haired boy dropped into the garden with his hands in his pockets, looking at the staggering Happosai with a condescending smile on his face.

"Hurts like a motherfucker, don't it midget-geezer?" Yusuke asked tauntingly.

Happosai managed to stand up on jelly legs, nursing his broken nose which had blood pouring down from it, "Y-You, y-you, y-you, y-you," Happosai stammered, tears beginning to leak from his big round eyes.

*He's gonna erupt!* Genma pulled out another sign from nowhere as the tension escalated, each one of the inhabitations of the Tendo Dojo all held their breaths in feared anticipation for Happosai to release his battle aura.

"You broke my nose you big meanie!

Nabiki, Soun, Genma, Ranma, and Akane all face-faulted at the babyish wail of Happosai, and to Happosai's disappointment the culprit of his broken nose merely pulled out a box of cigarettes and a lighter before putting one in his mouth and lighting it up, taking a drag and exhaling the smoke with an air of nonchalance around him.

"So I did," Yusuke confessed coolly, putting away his box of cigarettes, and lighter before inhaling another ounce of smoke, "The question is, whatcha gonna do about it midget-geezer?" Yusuke asked while simultaneously releasing a cloud of smoke from his lips.

Yusuke's eye held a challenging glint to it as he stared at Happosai in calm indifference.

Happosai sniffed, "You big meanie! You're meant to respect your elders!"

"Aw! Get over it and man-up, ya old freak!" The feisty redheaded girl screeched.

Yusuke turned his head to look at Ranma with a dumbfounded look on his face.

"What? Whatcha lookin' at me like that?" Ranma asked demandingly.

"I think I'm startin' to dig ya," Yusuke grinned, laughing, "Damn I gotta new friend, one easy on the eyes too, which is always a bonus."

Ranma blushed, "…Well, thanks, I guess."

"Ranma-chan!" Happosai wailed and flung himself at Ranma, tears flying off of his eyes, his arms outstretched to grope Ranma-chan's D-cup breasts, "Don't leave me for him!"

"Ugh! Stay the hell away from me you old freak!" Ranma shouted.

Ranma was well aware of the fact that she couldn't send the old man of perversion flying into orbit with her superhuman strength as was par usual in their daily ritual since it wasn't available to her due to some deus ex machina nonsense Happosai ripped from his ass to seal her strength away, so she settled with covering herself up with her arms.

Luckily, her arms weren't needed to block the pervert from her breasts since Happosai was treated to a burning sensation in the exact wound the pebble made on his forehead instead of the luscious feel of Ranma's breasts.

Happosai dropped to the ground several feet away from Ranma who couldn't see the old man rolling around and wailing excruciatingly, as the colour green blocked her view from Happosai.

"T-The l-lad's s-so f-fast! I… didn't even see him move." Soun stuttered as he gaped at Yusuke's amazing speed along with Nabiki, Genma, Akane and most of all Ranma.

'D-did h-he... j-just,' Ranma-chan gulped hard, 'S-Shield m-me from the old freak's attempt to grope me?' Not once in Ranma's life had the boy/girl ever had someone shield her/him from danger, it was the exact opposite actually. Most people for better or for worse had always aimed to inflict damage on Ranma. Her own pops tied her to a tree log wrapped in tuna and bread, and doused (her/him) in sardine-juice for hungry, aggressive cats Genma had agitated so they'd put extra effort in their ruthless attempts to eat Ranma.

And Genma done that all so Ranma could master a deadly prominent style called Neko-ken (Cat-fist), and he actually had the audacity to be disappointed in Ranma for not mastering the Neko-ken _consciously, _despite the fact that all the reckless free-loading man did was leave his child mentally scarred.

Now Ranma can't even go near a cat without freaking out.

Because her father's incompetence: Ranma had a cat-phobia.

Luckily, Ranma developed a defence mechanism to deal with being too close to cats.

But that was a story for another time.

So it was understandable if anyone showed Ranma a small amount of kindness she was bound to be attached to that person in the hopes she could have a true friend. Fiancées and rivals didn't count, especially since the fiancées were all nuts and the rival was likely to turn on her if she insulted Akane.

'What a guy,' Ranma mused, almost in a daze while Yusuke stood protectively in front of her.

'Huh? Ranma?' Akane thought as she noticed the redhead's stupor, and jumped the gun instantly, 'Argh! That pervert! He's probably gonna flirt for some free training sessions from this man so he can beat grandpa Happosai! Ugh!'

"You got some nerve pulling a stunt like that midget-geezer," Yusuke's casual words broke Ranma out of her stupor and Akane out of her righteous musings while Happosai scowled at Yusuke, "You zapped this Ranma-chick of her fire-power, but ya still have the balls to cop a feel. If nuthin' else you get points for tryin'."

Ranma flinched at being identified as a girl, "I'm not a girl!"

"Yeah right. And I'm a monkey's uncle," Yusuke coolly told Ranma without sparing her glance.

"I'm not! I'm a guy, damn it!" Ranma insisted as she stomped her foot on the ground with a pout of annoyance on her face.

"Yeah, yeah," Yusuke said. His tone said he didn't believe her and wasn't interested in hearing her chat lies to him.

"I am a guy," Ranma said in an almost desperate attempt to get Yusuke to take her seriously, but the former detective wasn't having any of it.

"It's not fun to have the shoe on the other foot, eh Ranma?" Akane quipped, making Ranma sigh with a defeated air around her. She was so going to batter this guy once she had her full strength back.

"That hurt!" Happosai growled as he held his head.

"The feeling's mutual midget-geezer," Yusuke groused with a serious look on his face while he looked over his shoulder at Ranma, the implications Happosai understood easily enough.

"I'm not handing over the pressure point chart unless Ranma puts on this bra!" Happosai shouted stubbornly, pulling out a frilly lacy bra, much to Ranma's annoyance while an lecherous smirk appeared on Happosai's face.

"I told ya a billion times already you old freak! I ain't wea-." Yusuke silenced the girl by sharply raising his index and middle fingers.

"What thingumajig would that be again midget-geezer, the one in my back-pocket?" Yusuke said calmly, causing Akane and Ranma to gawk at him.

"What are you talking about brat? I have the chart right here," Happosai shot back as he pulled out a folded up piece of paper, unfolding it to show Yusuke, Ranma, Akane, and the others the picture of a blank man with kanji-markings pointed to the pressure point areas on the body, "You ain't getting it. So mmm!" Happosai stuck his tongue out at Yusuke in a childish manner.

"Unless Ranma-chan wants to wear a bra," Happosai added with a victory smirk on his face.

"Is that so, eh midget-geezer?" Yusuke asked, his dark tone and evil smirk made Akane, Ranma, and Soun shiver involuntarily, "Last time I checked it was already in my hand."

"Your petty tricks won't work on me fell-." Happosai blinked once Yusuke blindly swiped his hand across the air, then coolly folded his arms across his chest in a blink of an eye, "What's that gonna do for ya, fella?" Happosai waved his hand, raising an eyebrow once he never heard the rustling of paper, "Huh?" He looked at his hand in confusion and gasped, "Oh no! The chart's gone!"

Hope filled Ranma's and Akane's eyes as Ranma peered around Yusuke to see him unfold his fingers, revealing a square-shaped piece of paper, "Like I said, it's already in my hand midget-geezer." The others were left speechless at Yusuke's display of speed to easily take the pressure point chart away from Happosai.

"Booyah!" Ranma yelled cheerfully, throwing her arms in the air, "I'm gonna be cured! I'm gonna be cured!"

"Oh Ranma, I'm so happy for you!" Akane smiled brightly.

"Way to go, mister!" In her overly happy mood, Ranma swung her arms around Yusuke's neck and pressed herself against his back.

"H-He a-actually d-did i-it. T-The l-lad actually took something back from the master," Soun stammered in debrief.

*Hurrah! My son won't be a weakling anymore and we can be free of the evil master!* Genma held up a sign with a gleeful expression on his face.

"Oh my, that young man really is strong." Kasumi said with a pleasant smile on her face.

Kasumi was just relieved that Ranma would be able to get her strength back and stop being miserable.

"Haha. It was nuthin' Ranma-_chan. _Just taking out the garbage," Yusuke jeered.

Ranma purged herself from Yusuke and gave him something akin to a shy smile, "I'm so gonna whoop your ass for that one 'Mister No name'…"

"Alright. I see. In that case the name's Yusuke. Yusuke Urameshi's at your service Ranma-_chan_," Yusuke introduced, still with that teasing smile on his face.

'Yep. I'm screwed,' Nabiki realized.

"Oh! You're so going down to Chinatown once ya get this darn thing off of my back Yusuke!" Ranma assured with a challenging smirk on her face.

"I look for-."

"No!" Happosai shouted ragingly, throwing himself to the ground and pounding the grass with his little legs and arms, "It's not fair! You cheated! Cheater! You tricked me!" Happosai was crying melodramatically, "Don't you know you're supposed to respect your elders!"

Yusuke was just unfolding the pressure point chart and was looking at it with an air of nonchalance around him. As far as he was concerned he had won and he owed that dirty old man nothing. Besides, guys like Happosai were beneath Yusuke in Yusuke's opinion.

"Give it a rest you old letch! You've lost! Yu-chan won! Deal with it!" Ranma demanded, taking satisfaction seeing Yusuke flinch upon being called Yu-chan. He could just feel the teasing smirk plastered on Ranma's face and saw it as he looked at her with a glare.

"Don't call me that!" Yusuke commanded and added under his breath, "I hated that nickname when my mom called me that, and I hate it now!"

"All is fair in love and war, Yu-_chan_," Ranma insisted teasingly, making Yusuke sigh while Akane glared angrily at Ranma.

"Fair dues then," Yusuke said, turning Ranma around and flashing through some hand-signs, holding up his index finger which suddenly had a pinkish glow on the tip of it.

Ranma flinched as Yusuke ran his finger around her back, looking for the stupid thing which was left on her by Happosai, "Checkmate. King me." Yusuke found the mark sealing Ranma's strength away, "This might sting like a bitch now, but-. Meh. I'm sure you can hack it."

"Just get it over with already! My foot's made reservations with the old freak's ass," Ranma quipped, then shrieked painfully once Yusuke pushed his glowing pinkish finger onto the spot sealing Ranma's strength away. It was like Yusuke had pressed a lighter to her back. A sizzling sound even came from Ranma's back complete with stream flowing up in the air.

"Kyaaaaa!" Ranma screamed painfully, spinning around and glaring at Yusuke, "Whatcha do that for? Did ya have to make it so darn painful Yu-chan?"

"I told ya it was gonna sting like a bitch Ranma-_chan!_" Yusuke teased.

Ranma pouted at Yusuke before turning to Happosai with smirk on her features, cracking her knuckles, "Now, you old freak. I think it's 'bout time my fists got reacquainted with your face! Whaddya say to that?"

"NO! Traitors! All of you have abandoned me for _him_! I won't allow it!" Happosai wailed, unleashing his battle-aura and increasing the size of himself exponentially, becoming a giant with demonic-esque glowing blue eyes, much to the horrors of Soun, Genma, Akane, and Ranma.

"N-Now, m-master, p-please calm down, I-I'm s-sure the l-lad meant well," Soun squeaked and quickly dropped to his knees and started bowing his head multiple of times to the giant that was Happosai, "Please don't kill us master!"

*Spare us oh so great one!*

"No one's gonna die on my watch! Geez. Take a chill pill y'all," Yusuke muttered and Ranma was almost taken back by the conviction in his voice.

"So you think you can stop me eh fella?" Happosai smirked malevolently, "I'll have ya know I'm gonna take Ranma-chan away with me and make her do all sorts of things if she won't put on the bra I got for her!"

"Fat chance that'll ever happen," Yusuke said before Ranma could go on a rant stating how that wasn't going to happen, so instead the red head just stopped glaring at Happosai and peered at Yusuke.

"Oh. Why's that fella? You don't even come up to my knee now!"

"'Cause ya already have a flight booked for America. See ya."

Yusuke casually stabbed his index finger out and sent a white-ish beam-esque wave of pressure at Happosai, nailing the old man's pervert in his forehead and launching him in the air and away form the Tendo Dojo, back to his normal tiny size.

"Ayaaaaaaaa!" The sight of Happosai was no more but a mere sparkle in the sky.

"Pop and away goes the weasel," Yusuke quipped as he blew his index finger.

"Whoa! How'd ya do that? You gotta teach me that trick Yu-chan!" Ranma asked gleefully.

"What trick?" Yusuke asked in return.

"Ugh! Don't play dumb with me! The one you just used to send that old freak blasting off to the moon!"

"Ah." Yusuke made a noise of understanding.

"So can you show it to me. Pretty please with a cherry on top," Ranma gushed, putting on her cute girl act to coax Yusuke into teaching her a new move.

"I could, but-."

"But." Ranma said expectantly.

"But that ain't a move." Yusuke stated while Ranma and Akane blinked in confusion.

"But if that wasn't a move then how did you send grandpa Happosai away like that Urameshi-san?" Akane wondered curiously.

"That? That was just some air pressure released from me jerking my finger forward like Speedy Gonzales running a marathon," Yusuke said, making shock expressions appear on Ranma's, Akane's, Soun's, and Genma's faces.

"You mean you defeated the master with nothing but a simple shockwave?" Soun asked to make sure and gawked once Yusuke nodded.

Soun regained his composure before walking over to Yusuke and placing a calming hand on the boy's shoulder, "Urameshi-kun, I think I speak for all of us here when I say, you have our thanks for your courageous victory over the master."

"Think nuthin of it old man. I was bored. Nuff said," Yusuke brushed off the praise coolly.

Soun coughed into his hand a couple of times, "Yes. In any case why don't you stay around the Dojo for a while? It's the least we could do after what you did for us today."

*I second that!*

"But papa we don't even know Urameshi-san that well." Akane whined.

"Nonsense Akane-dear, Yusuke-kun's a fine young man." Soun said with a smile on his face.

"You just want Urameshi-san around so he can protect you and uncle Saotome from grandpa Happosai," Akane sulked and Soun sputtered before quickly regaining his recompose.

"Well the offer's up if you're interested," Soun said to Yusuke with a look which just practically begged the powerhouse boy to take up his offer in the fear the master would return and kill them all for their insolence.

With Yusuke here Soun could feel reassured that him and his family were safe from harm.

"Sure. Not like I got anything better to do," Yusuke groused, much to Akane's chagrin as the youngest Tendo stomped off into the Dojo.

"Excellent. Kasumi will prepare dinner," Soun assured gleefully.

The evil master wouldn't be able to touch them now.

"I'll get started right away, father," Kasumi assured pleasantly, sauntering into the Dojo, and Nabiki chose that moment to follow her sister before Yusuke caught sight of her.

"Come Saotome. The day is young and master free. Let us play a game of shogi." Soun suggested.

*You're on!* Genma's sign said as he followed Soun over to the porch to play a game of shogi.

"What the fuck's up with that panda?" Yusuke asked Ranma.

"Don't ask." Ranma replied dryly.

"This place is looking nutter the longer I stay here." Yusuke said.

"Welcome to Nerima: home to the escapees of the asylum." Ranma quipped and Yusuke hummed in agreement with the red head girl, "So have you got any techniques to show me Yu-chan? I know you must have some after seeing the way you creamed that old freak into next week."

"Hmm." Yusuke hummed like he was really considering what to show the cheerful girl. "Well I got this," Yusuke held up his hand and shaped it in the form of a gun. A basketball-shaped ball of luminous spirit energy formed on the tip of Yusuke's index finger to Ranma's amazement before the ball expended and grew to cover Yusuke's body.

Yusuke casually lifted up his hand to point his cannon-beam of energy at the harmless clouds.

"**Reigan (Spirit Gun)**!"

The ball of spirit energy left Yusuke's finger and roofed the sky apart before Ranma's stunned-filled eyes.

"Awesome!" Ranma said cheerfully, "Show me that reigan-thingy a few more times and I'll have it down in no time flat!"

"Sure. I got an infinite amount of gas in the tank and nuthin' but time." Yusuke replied and Ranma smiled brightly, "At least I think my hands are untied." Yusuke couldn't shake the feelling he was forgetting something or someone as he fired off his spirit gun for Ranma-chan.

XxX

"Now how do I get out of here?" Ryoga wondered to himself, having only just managed to find his way out of the bathroom of the old lady's house Yusuke brought him into to change him back into his birth form.

"Sunny, your tea's getting cold. You should come drink it now." The old lady said kindly once Ryoga found himself walking into the living room of where she sat watching Jerry Springer.

"U-Uhm. No thank you madam. I'm just trying to find the door," Ryoga said shyly, walking away from the old lady, and walking in the opposite direction of where the front door was, "Damn it, Saotome. If that damn ingrate wasn't so mean to Akane-chan then Yusuke-san wouldn't have had to leave me here to go teach Saotome a lesson! Damn it Saotome." Somehow it was always Ranma's fault. No matter what happened to the lost boy, he would always find a reason to blame it on Saotome.

"CURSE YOU SAOTOME!"


	3. One Who Accepts

**Disclaimer: I don't own YuYu Hakusho or Ranma 1/2 **

* * *

**Chapter 3**

**One Who Accepts **

Ranma Saotome: heir to the Saotome Anything Goes School of Martial Arts: doesn't lose.

Ever.

This was a well-known fact.

No matter what obstacle stood in the she-boy's way Ranma was always able to overcome it via sheer determination and straight-up doggedness.

Be it to officially win a grand prize dinner she and her father Genma had ignorantly started digging into without realizing it was the grand prize of a tournament, only to receive the kiss of death from the Amazon girl of hence she'd defeated. Ranma didn't back down from her.

In fact she eventually changed back into a guy for the vengeful seeking murdering amazon-warrior, and to her surprise the girl wanted to now marry her, because in Amazon-laws, if an outsider male defeated an amazon-warrior then he was deemed 'fit' enough to marry into the tribe of prideful women.

On the contrary, if an outsider female subdued an amazon-woman then said amazon-woman would be honour-bound to hunt down the one who had put her in her place and murder her to restore her pride and honour… after giving the victor the kiss of death, mafia-esque, of course.

Ranma was backed into a corner either way.

But that didn't mean the martial artist was going to give up!

Hell no!

The Amazon warrior named Shampoo took a personal liking to Ranma and sought to gain his affections so she could marry him/her, and even tried to forcefully erase Akane out of the picture by wiping out a portion of her memory, the parts containing Ranma.

Many would have thought it would have saddened Ranma to lose his/her quote-on-quote 'official fiancé', but Ranma, friends deprived as she/he was, felt hurt when Akane showed no recognition upon looking at him/her after waking up from the brainwashing given to her by Shampoo.

That in hindsight was just another obstacle to overcome for the pigtailed martial artist and luckily Akane soon regained her real memories of Ranma, much to 'P-chan''s disappointment.

The whole brainwashing saga still didn't humble the arrogant girl in the youngest Tendo, who still had the audacity to insist she was a martial artist and not a damsel in distress, one even on the level of Ranma Saotome.

History says otherwise… but I digress.

The attempts to see Ranma married off to Shampoo didn't stop there and were even amped up by ten once Shampoo's anciently great and very powerful grandmother, Cologne, came down to Japan to check on her granddaughter's efforts in her quest to slay girl-Ranma. Needlessly to say, that went out the window when she discovered Ranma was in fact half boy/ half girl.

Ranma was strong.

It had been a while since a worthy male had impressed an Amazon-warrior since _he_ last visited the tribe of prideful women.

Cologne had to get Ranma married to Shampoo. She just had to.

The ancient old woman around Happosai's age and height placed the cat tongue on Ranma while she was in girl-form so even remotely warm water would feel immensely hot, to the point where Ranma wouldn't be able to stand warm water long enough to turn back into a guy.

Cologne had hoped the feisty redheaded girl would lose patience and surrendered herself to Shampoo so she could bathe in warm water, and be a guy, however, Ranma Saotome - Does. Not. Lose!

Ever!

Ranma's sheer determination proved too much for the old lady, who wasn't evil enough to keep the cat tongue placed on Ranma. Cologne handed over the cure to Ranma's cat tongue in the form of a pill called the 'phoenix pill'. Ranma swallowed it and thus was able to happily dive into a warm bath to become a guy once again.

With all these trials the feisty redheaded girl had faced and overcome it seemed nothing could beat her. Nothing.

Only today had Ranma learned the hard-way there were some battles she just couldn't win.

"Goddamn it!" Ranma pouted, stomping towards the Tendo Dojo after Kasumi had called her and her tormentor for dinner, dripping wet with the water making her clothes stick to her body. It did wonders to bring out her curvy hips, and busty boobies, as Yusuke would vouch for since he took a moment to admire the stunning redheaded girl.

"Are you sure that last burning shoot even worked, Yu-chan?" Ranma asked grumpily, stepping onto the porch of the Tendo Dojo.

"As sure as I ever will be, Ranma-chan," Yusuke assured the girl with a smirk on his face, following the girl into the Tendo Dojo and directly into the living room area while Ranma groused.

"Well you did a half-assed job!"

"Naw. I was just too hot to handle for ya."

Ranma turned her head to glare at Yusuke, but the half-demon merely shrugged it off, and sat on the floor in a leg-crossed position next to Genma who was back in his human form.

A brooding Ranma merely sat down next to her new friend in a Yusuke-esque sitting position except she lazily had her hand resting on her cheek, looking at the food surrounding the table lackadaisically.

Nabiki abruptly twitched while Yusuke observed the food Kasumi had prepared with a gleeful smile on his face.

"Lookin' good I must say, complimentary to the chef," Yusuke said, a thoughtful look on his face, trying to remember who that cowardly guy said would prepare dinner before looking over at the traditional house lady who was just finishing off serving a bowl of rice, sushi, and tempura.

"Why, thank you, Urameshi-kun," Kasumi smiled gently, offering Yusuke the bowl she had served for him, "I hope you like."

"If its half as good as it smells, then I think my stomach will develop an addiction for it miss-," Yusuke hinted by rolling his left wrist while Kasumi handed him a pair of chopsticks he took with his right hand.

"Kasumi Tendo," Kasumi supplied helpfully, still with that ever present smile on her face.

'Tendo, eh?' Yusuke mused, pursing his lips while a hint of worry was seen in Nabiki's usual disinterested eyes, "Ah. I'm beginning to see the picture now," Yusuke stated, jerking his thumb in the direction of Genma who sneakily tried to steal Yusuke's meal, but the former spirit detective was not to be fooled or robbed, "And food thief here is?" Genma gave Yusuke a sheepish smile and retracted his hand.

"Goddamn it pops," Ranma muttered sourly.

"Oh. That's Uncle Genma Saotome. Ranma-chan's father," Kasumi explained, causing Ranma to blush in embarrassment while Yusuke elbowed her in a suggestive manner. And because no one back-chatted to Kasumi, Ranma just looked down at her lap bashfully.

Yusuke turned steely eyes on Soun which made the head of the household gulp, "I take it you're the chief of this fortress, eh?"

"Y-Yes, l-lad, y-you may call me S-Soun Tendo," Soun suddenly felt very weary, and nervous in front of the powerhouse boy. He did outclass and outmatch the master like he was nothing after all. Soun just hoped Yusuke wasn't disappointed in him that he couldn't drive Happosai away, as he was the head of the Tendo Dojo after all.

A grimace appeared on Yusuke's features, "Ack. You shoulda drove that old fart outta here long before I showed up."

Soun coughed into his hand, "Y-Yes. Well. Not everything is as easy as it seems, Yusuke-kun," Soun said calmly, hoping his response would be enough to satisfy Yusuke.

"Hm. So it seems to be," Yusuke grunted indifferently.

Genma grinned, patting the powerhouse boy on his shoulder, "It may not be as easy as one, two, three for us, but you, boy, defeating that old troll is a walk in the park."

"Hey! What 'bout me old man?" Ranma asked belligerently, feeling offended about being overlooked like she was nothing more but a liability.

Genma growled, "All that time and effort I invested in you could've been for nothing if Yusuke-boy hadn't shown up to deal with the master, you're a disappointment."

Ranma fumed, "How the hell was I supposed to know that old freak was gonna zap away my strength!?"

"A true martial artist would've been prepared for anything!" Genma argued sagely.

"And what if they ain't eh? 'Cause, I dunno, a dirty old perv might pull a trick from his bag of deus ex machina bullshit they've never seen before!"

"Then they turn it into a training experience! Haven't I always taught you that, boy!?" Genma said heatedly, causing a scowl to appear on Ranma's face, her teeth gnashing together, and her hands balled so tightly into fists, her nails threatened to break her skin.

"Argh! I'm so gonna wedge my foot up your ass ol-."

"Jeez wiz. I didn't know a gal could spray it like that." Yusuke broke in, interrupting Ranma's rant with a gleeful grin on his face, making her sulk at being called a girl again, "Ain't that swell and good."

"Shaddup! I told ya already that I'm not a girl but a guy!"

"You don't look like a guy to me."

"Well I am!"

Ranma squeaked involuntarily; a jabbing feeling pushing her left breast in made Nabiki, Soun, and Genma gape, "Your watermelons says otherwise." Yusuke said casually, his finger idly poking Ranma's left boob in like it was meant to do so.

Ranma's face turned a violent red, "You perv!" Her fist abruptly went right through Yusuke as if the boy was a hallucination, "Huh?" Ranma blinked only once before pouting in remembrance of her fists or feet flying directly through the ghostly teen during their sparring match.

Ranma and Yusuke had been sparring for a while after Yusuke had shown her his spirit gun. After Ranma had tried and failed to pull off a spirit gun Yusuke started teasing her like she'd usually do to Akane just to annoy her.

Akane's little quip earlier, "It's not nice to have the shoe on the other foot, eh Ranma?" hit the nail on the head. It wasn't fun for Ranma to be in Akane's position facing off against someone who was so far above her level it wasn't even funny; just like how Ranma was miles ahead of Akane's level to the point one shouldn't even make jokes about it.

So instead of Ranma teasing Akane, it was Yusuke satirizing Ranma. One thing led to the other, and both Ranma and Yusuke started sparring with Yusuke clearly holding most of his strength back and effortlessly dodging Ranma's attacks, refusing to hit her barring the occasional shove he gave her to make her fall into the koi pond.

Even when Ranma resorted to taunting and gloating Yusuke in the hopes she could make him slip up, just once, the overly powerful teen remained cool and calm as a cucumber.

That in itself annoyed Ranma who couldn't even land on a single flipping hit on the speedy warrior.

"Damn you and your speed Yu-chan! Damn you to hell already!" Ranma griped.

Genma and Soun just gaped at the two. They had seen Yusuke sparring with Ranma, and were utterly amazed how the former spirit detective easily dealt with Ranma. The way Yusuke dealt with Ranma's petty taunts were_ eerily_ reminiscent of the way a master handled his disobedient and rowdy student.

"Keep dreaming _babe_. One day you might be able to see the great Urameshi-sama flashing from place to the next!" Yusuke jeered with a cocky grin on his face.

"How many times do I have to tell ya I ain't no girl!?" Ranma raged.

"Sure. I'll believe that, when pigs fly," Yusuke offered with a nod of his head in a way to patronize Ranma.

"Argh!" Ranma screeched furiously, shooting up to her feet like thunder while Yusuke just dug into his meal, "Fine! Then I'll show you I'm a guy, Yu-chan!" Yusuke just waved his hand like he was dealing with a child having a tantrum.

Ranma just grumped and stomped off in the direction of the kitchen.

"What's eating her?" Yusuke asked casually, almost like he hadn't upset the _girl._

Soun just set his bowl down calmly, "Well the lad's experiencing some difficulty coming to terms with his future plans with my lovely daughter. He has a lot on his shoulders being the heir to both mine and Saotome's schools."

Yusuke raised his eyebrow. Ranma was probably a guy, judging by the way Soun called her a 'he' and a 'lad', meaning a 'male'.

"Hmph. It's nothing my boy won't be able to overcome. I've spent twelve years moulding him into the perfection of a man among men of anything goes!" Genma gloated.

"Huh. Well that's the dumbest thing I've heard old man," Yusuke groused, and Genma would've scowled or lectured Yusuke for having so little faith in his methods if it wasn't for the dark warning look the half-demon sent the bald martial artist.

Nabiki flinched and nearly choked on her food once Yusuke turned nonchalant eyes onto her, "So, since we're waiting for the she-man to come back and show me her neat little trick why don't you tell me who you are?"

'I was hoping he would forget about me if I stayed nondescript. After all what interest would a super-powered martial artist have in an innocent school girl?' Nabiki mused sardonically, hiding her anxiety at introducing herself to the hotshot delinquent from Sarayashiki Jr High School like an expert lawyer masking her fear of her client getting sentenced to a life of jail.

"Nabiki. Nabiki Tendo," Nabiki Tendo introduced herself in such a professional manner she almost regretted it upon seeing the pensive expression marking Yusuke's face.

"Nabiki Tendo," Yusuke repeated as if testing the name for himself on his tongue. Then he snapped his thumb, "Oh, yeah. You were the orchestra of that whole pseudo-betting operation back when I used to go to my ol' educational-jail." Yusuke remembered.

Soun and Genma blinked in confusion and looked from Nabiki to Yusuke.

Kasumi only had a pleasant smile on her face while she finished serving her father a plate.

"Still am." Nabiki said coolly.

"Oh. How nice. You and Nabiki-imouto know each other," Kasumi smiled.

"Not officially, but you could say Nabs here was the brains behind the curtains to my brawn," Yusuke quipped.

The puzzlement on the faces of the masters of the Saotome and Tendo schools still wouldn't leave their faces; on the contrary, it only enhanced with the blinking of their eyes, their heads shifting from one youth to the next as if to put the missing pieces of the puzzle together.

"Isn't that right, Nabs?" Yusuke asked in an expectant, but also satirizing manner.

"Yes, 'oh-so great one'," Nabiki confirmed in a sarcastic manner, rolling her eyes.

"Nabiki-chan, that isn't anyway to speak to a guest," Kasumi admonished.

"Meh. No skin off my bones," Yusuke waved his hand dismissively, before adding in wry, dark humour, "Nabs and I can get better acquainted much later…"

Yusuke's mocking and grim tone made Soun and Genma wince. The patriarch looked at his daughter and blinked. If he didn't know any better he could have sworn he saw her eyes wide with honest-to-god worry filling them.

But that was nonsense.

Soun Tendo's middle daughter lived up to the expectancy of being the second oldest sibling out of her and her two other sisters, Akane and Kasumi, mentally anyway. She was second only to Kasumi in that aspect. Nothing ever broke through the stoic business-esque girl's professional demeanour.

For Yusuke to accomplish such a feat meant he was more evil than the devilish master, Happosai!

'No!' Soun mentally berated himself, smiling bashfully, 'Saotome would have my head if he found out I was thinking like that,' Because none were more villainous and repulsive than the devilish master to Saotome and his old friend Soun, 'Yusuke-kun's a good lad. He restored Ranma-kun's strength and sent the master away. Surely that signals he has nothing but good intentions.'

Soun nodded contently, satisfied with his rationalizing thought. That look of 'worry' in his daughter's eyes he thought he'd saw was obviously just an hallucination his overjoyed mind made up, probably as a warning that the master was coming back, bigger, stronger, and better than ever.

But they'd cross that bridge once it came.

Besides, Yusuke defeated the master, he could do it again.

"Okay, Yu-chan! You want proof of my manhood, then here it is!" Ranma stormed back into the kitchen wielding nothing more but a distinctive golden-coloured kettle that Yu-chan would come to realize just how prominent that damned reoccurring object was.

"Huh? You gonna serve us tea, princess? Gee, ain't that swell- of ya!" Yusuke mocked Ranma cheerfully, shoving a mouthful of sushi in his mouth.

"No, dummy, I'm gonna use it to show ya I'm really a guy, not your babe!"

Yusuke just sat his bowl in between his crossed legs and half-turned his body to give Ranma an amused grin, "Heh. This ought to be good. Alright. I'll signal ya the green light. Shed the light on me then."

Ranma snarled. She hated not being taken seriously, it was such a foreign concept to the redhead she didn't know how to deal with it. As long as she could remember it had always been her/him who lackadaisically trounced or outright outclassed anyone her age.

Starting with Akane, to Tatewaki Kuno, to Mousse, and even Ryoga Hibiki of all the fighters Ranma had faced, had been put in their places with insouciant, half-hearted efforts on Ranma's part. Although lazily beating Ryoga Hibiki, the next man of steel, had taken satirizing to get the boy angered so he'd attack her with the sloppiness of a street brawler rather than the grace of a skilled martial artist.

Was that a dirty tactic?

Sure.

But then again one can't be an heir of the school of *Anything Goes* Martial Arts without willing to dirty one's hands.

Cheating was just par for the course with Ranma's style.

"Just watch and learn bucko, 'cause you're 'bout to be schooled!" Ranma assured and Yusuke ushered her to do her worse with a motion of his hands.

Without further ado, Ranma bumped the hot water on her head.

Instantly, the redheaded girl evolved like a Pokémon. The red hair of Ranma turned black and 'her' once light complexion became tanned. Ranma still had the blue eyes Yusuke had seen but now Ranma was taller, taller than Akane but still a little shorter than Yusuke. And the muscles in Ranma's arms were clearly visible as if they were proof Ranma was a high calibre martial artist.

"And now you plant the seed instead of carrying the egg."

"Now do y'know my secret Y-. Wait. What?" Ranma's dry statement died in his throat right there as he processed Yusuke's last quip.

"What?"

"W-what y-you said before?"

"'Bout the birds and the bees?"

"No. 'Bout the president gettin' shot! Of course I meant 'bout the birds and the effing bees, Yu-chan!" Ranma shouted heatedly.

Yusuke shrugged, "Yeah. What of it?"

"You just implied I could have babies in my girl-form!" That thought alone was enough to make Ranma throw up. He had never thought about getting pregnant in his girl-form. The curse form was enough as a nuisance as it was. Dealing with the things women had to go through was not on Ranma's list of things to do, but he had to unfortunately. Like the time when he had been trapped in his girl-form for several weeks by the old ghoul.

After four weeks Ranma started to bleed down 'there'.

Ranma had never felt so uncomfortable in his life.

Yusuke just picked up his bowl calmly, "So what?"

"So! So! Whaddya mean so, damn it! I'm a guy! I can't freaking carry… babies!" Ranma shouted, paling at the very mention of the word babies, "Whaddya think I am: a damn baby-making machine?"

Yusuke took a couple of bites of his food, speaking while chewing, "Well… the way I see it…. You're a chick half the time right?"

"Right. Bu-."

"So ya momentarily begin cruising down the road of womanhood. It ain't no big deal. You're still Ranma-chan to me," Yusuke grinned in a mischievous fashion at the girl-turned-boy standing beside him.

Ranma was nearly taken back, 'Huh. It's… uhm… kinda weird to meet a guy who accepts me for being able to turn into a girl.' Ranma had never met anyone his own age who knew about his curse and accepted it without thinking of him as a freak or a pervert. Either that or they were oblivious to rather his male-form or female-form.

"Odd. The way you spoke of Ranma-kun's curse makes me believe you know of the cursed springs in Jusenkyo," Soun said.

"Yeah, I me-."

"Ranma! I've got dinner ready for you!"

Ranma cringed and Yusuke blinked at the sound of Akane's voice. Wait? He had heard that name twice before. Once from Soun and the other time from Ry-.

"Damn it." Yusuke cussed in frustration and made Ranma pause his panicking of trying Akane's cooking to look at him in confusion, "I forgot all 'bout Pig-boy."

"Pig-boy? Wait. You mean Ry-." Before Ranma could say anymore Yusuke disappeared like he wasn't even there.

"Oh! Urameshi-kun's gone." Kasumi gasped and Ranma blinked at the girl.

Genma grinned and snickered, "Hohoho. He's snoozes, he loses. I'll just help myself to his mea-." Genma's joy was killed and burned to ashes once the old man looked at Yusuke's dish and saw nothing but little pieces of leftover rice, "Aw. The boy even eats fast," Genma quickly folded his arms and nodded his head sagely, "The boy has the fire of a true martial artist. You could learn something from him boy," Genma blinked once he never got a resort from his son.

Genma looked to see him sneaking away desperately.

"…Ack. I'd rather sooner eat fried pork _lost _or _blind_ duck then Akane's cooking," Ranma whispered in the hopes Akane wouldn't hear or see him but unfortunately it was not to be.

Ranma froze.

"Ranma! I got your dinner for you!" Akane said sweetly, smiling brightly, and being completely oblivious to the winces of Genma, and Soun.

And Akane's confidence only grew since she was conscious of Kasumi's encouraging smile.

"Hey, where are you going?" Akane inquired upon seeing Ranma sneaking away, curiosity giving away for increasing fury, "Hey! I have you're dinner here for you Ranma-idiot!"

Ranma straightened and crossed his arms, "Geez tomboy. I rather like the idea of not gettin' a free flight ticket straight to the hospital y'know."

Akane stomped her foot in vexation, "I worked hard on this, Ranma-idiot! The least you could do is try it!" Ranma mumbled irritably, while Akane noticed they were down one guest, "Hey, where'd Urameshi-san go?"

Nabiki answered her question in an uninterested way that surprisingly made Akane squeal happily.

"He's gone to get P-chan."

"P-chan!"


	4. The Miscreant Yu-chan!

**Disclaimer: I don't own YuYu Hakusho or Ranma 1/2**

**Yo. The latest chapter of Naruto was friggin beastly as all hell. Madara, Mr Madara. He's badass. Well done to Kishimoto. And after what happened to his father as well. I feel sorry for him and his family, but that's life I'm afraid. People will die as saddening as it is. **

**But Kishimoto did really well with the latest chapter of Naruto. Really well.**

**Buy, buy, Yusuke and Ranma's way of saying bye, bye.**

* * *

**Chapter 4**

**The Miscreant Yu-chan!**

"NOW WHERE AM I!?" Ryoga shouted in frustration.

The lost-boy found himself in a room with a double bed, mirror, a wardrobe, and a picture of a good-looking and stunning woman who looked eerily similar to that jerk Saotome's female form, standing next to a handsome man who weirdly looked like Ryoga's new sensei and had his arms wrapped around the girl.

"What is this place? Why can't I get out of here?" Ryoga questioned in slight apprehension.

He couldn't escape this damn maze!

How did Yusuke do it?

The extremely powerful man with an infinite amount of Ki just upped and disappeared like he wasn't even there in the first place.

"Sunny, come give an old lady a foot massage."

Ryoga shivered, "N-No, madam. I'm just trying to find the exit."

Ryoga was starting to get worried now. That old lady was starting to get fresh with him, which was probably due to the fact he had been lost in her house for two hours without even realizing it. Damn it! Why couldn't these places have maps or GPS-systems or something?! Anyone could get lost here. Anyone!

"Well maybe if I go the other wa-."

Ryoga stopped himself there when he felt the hairs on the back of his neck and his clothes rustle slightly from a sudden wind. Then he felt a pull on the scruff of his shirt before feeling his feet leave the ground as if he weighed nothing.

"Damn. What the heck you doin' in the crazy lady's room, Ryo? Couldna resist going to second base eh? You sly dog," Yusuke's voice rang out and Ryoga's eyes widened in relief.

"Y-Yusuke-san, what are you doing here?" Ryoga stammered.

"I could ask you the same question," Yusuke resorted to his would-be student as he surveyed the room and stared dumbfounded at the picture of the woman and man looking suspiciously like him and girl-Ranma, 'Okay. That's just freaky,' That aside: "What happened Ryo, you took a wrong turn in Albuquerque?"

"It's not like that!" Ryoga was quick to shoot that down as tried to escape Yusuke's hold, but it was all for naught as Yusuke held a fierce grip on his scruff, "Akane-chan's the only girl was me, it's just that-." Ryoga trailed off, feeling a tad embarrassed for having this problem.

"Going on, I'm all ears."

"…I've g-got," Ryoga took a couple of deep calming breaths to chill himself out before adding quietly, "…Directional problems."

"Huh? You can't find your way outta a freaking house?" Yusuke asked.

"Yeah. I don't know the difference from right to left or even straight," Ryoga confessed sadly, and Yusuke could practically feel the shame the lost boy felt for not knowing the directions of left, right, and straight.

"…Damn. I got my hands full modelling you eh Ryo."

Ryoga's eyes grew wide, "You really do that for me?"

"Yep. I already said I would take you under my wing. It is a sensei's job to improve their students, y'know."

Ryoga didn't know what to say. Most of his life people had never bothered to help him improve himself. They would rather sooner laugh at him for getting lost in the public toilets then they were to lend him a helping hand to learn directions and to improve his fighting skills, and overall power-level.

Not to mention Yusuke assured Ryoga he was going to help him get with Akane.

Okay, it was official. Yusuke was the best guy Ryoga had ever met.

"Thanks, Yusuke-sensei." Ryoga said in appreciation.

Yusuke smiled, "No problemo, Ryo," Yusuke said before giving one final tug on Ryoga's scruff as if to adjust him for the short trip they were taking to the Tendo Dojo. Then Yusuke looked at the picture of the couple that looked conspicuously like him and girl-Ranma again, "Aw. Fuck off, fate!"

XxX

(Tendo Dojo)

A brooding Akane abruptly flinched upon seeing the powerhouse boy materialize into existence as if he had teleportation powers, holding something on his back if the way he was hanging his right arm over his shoulder indicated.

"Okay, I'm back," Yusuke announced as he dropped whatever he was carrying onto the ground.

"Oaf!"

"Ryoga!"

"Akane-chan!" Ryoga squeaked, hastily standing up to his feet so fast his umbrella and backpack slid off of him, "W-What a-are y-you d-doing h-here?" Ryoga asked nervously, subconsciously walking over to the wall and poking a hole in the solid wall with his finger like it was a screwdriver, repeatedly making several more holes in the wall while smiling nervously at Akane.

Akane giggled adorably, "Silly, I live here."

"Huh?" Ryoga wondered in confusion and eyed the dish in Akane's hand before turning to look at his new sensei who had already retaken his place near the dinner table, helping himself to seconds.

"Hey, Pig-boy, did ya get lost in pork-land again?" Ranma inquired in a wryly, taunting fashion.

Ryoga abruptly stopped making holes in the wall and shot his head around to glare at Ranma while Akane did the same thing, "Saotome…" Ryoga gnashed his teeth, "How dare you make a mockery out of me in front of Aka-."

"Shut your trap, park your ass, and eat some grub," Yusuke commanded, not turning to look at his student while Genma and Soun cracked an eye open to watch the interaction between Yusuke and Ryoga.

Ryoga balled his hands into fists and stared fiercely at Ranma's cocky grin.

"If only looks could kill, eh, Pig-boy?" Ranma antagonized Ryoga and earned himself a glare from Akane in return.

Ryoga muttered incoherently, but eventually relented. He released a breath and the anger on his face washed away to be replaced by a look of calm acceptance. From there Ryoga obediently ambled over to Yusuke and sat down next to him.

"Yes, Yusuke-sensei," Ryoga obeyed and earned himself several blinking eyes from Genma, Soun, Ranma, Nabiki, and Akane, the latter's temper giving way for curiosity.

"Sensei?" Ranma was the first to voice everyone's thoughts.

"That's right. I'll be training under Yusuke-sensei from now on," Ryoga elucidated calmly, spinning his head around to give Ranma a look of determination, "To defeat you once and for all Saotome. You'll pay for making my life a living hell!"

"Fat chance Pig-boy," Ranma snorted and crossed his arms behind his head.

"I say, that's not a bad idea. Ryoga-kun's got quite the knack at the martial arts," Soun said, "Wouldn't you agree Saotome?"

"Yes. Give the boy time and he could reach the likes of our levels, Tendo," Genma nodded in agreement.

"I don't care if Urameshi-san is Ryoga-kun's sensei he shouldn't be ordering him around like a pet!" Akane screeched irritably, making Ryoga blush being defended by his crush.

To Akane's growing anger, Yusuke just lazily cleaned out his ear, "Gotta listen to the master if he ever hopes to spread his wings, and fly away."

"Yes. I agree," Genma nodded wholeheartedly, "If my boy had chickened out on any of the vigorous training sessions he wouldn't have become the man he is today!"

"Yeah Pops. _Way to go. _You're _definitely_ a nominee for father of the year award," Ranma quipped dryly, sarcasm evident in his voice and Genma glared at his son.

"Well that still doesn't give you the right to treat Ryoga-kun like a doormat!" Akane screeched and Ryoga was becoming increasingly nervous now, as he looked down and pushed his index fingers together.

Akane fumed and groaned furiously when Yusuke waved her off like she didn't matter, but instead of rage-shouting at the rude-boy, the temperamental-girl turned her heated glare onto her disinterested money-making sister.

"And I thought you said Urameshi-san was bringing P-chan over!" Akane whined and Ryoga flinched.

"P-chan?" Yusuke mused with a puzzled look on his face and Akane looked at him with a scowl on her face.

"Yes, P-chan, my cute baby piglet!" Akane thundered, then got all teary eyed in her typical melodramatic-fashion, "My poor baby. He must be so scared and hungry too, without momma's cooking to fill his little tummy," Ryoga blanched and Yusuke was starting to put the pieces together.

Akane looked at Ranma, sadness taking a backseat to righteous fury, "Ranma you jerk! Stop picking on P-chan!"

"I ain't touched your damn pet Akane!" Ranma stated in irritation and crossed his arms over his chest, looking away from Akane, "Geez. You think I wanna go near a pig without turning it into roast pork. Heh. It'd be tastier than eatin' cookin made by an uncute tomboy, like you," Akane and Ryoga both growled at the rude-boy, the Saotome one, not the Urameshi-one.

"Hey. Isn't Porky just Ry-." Yusuke found himself silenced by the hands of Ryoga and Ranma, a ghostly afterimage of Ranma slowly disappearing from existence as he dashed over to put his hand on Yusuke's mouth the moment Ryoga put his on it too.

"Huh?" Akane blinked her eyes, "What's going on?"

"That's what I'd like to know," Yusuke muttered in annoyance, but it was barely heard with Ryoga's and Ranma's hands over his mouth.

Ryoga laughed bashfully, meekly moving his head to his sensei's ear, "…A-Akane-chan doesn't know about my curse form," The look of shame on Ryoga's face was missed by the ignorant youngest Tendo, "I've been her pet 'P-chan' and haven't got around to telling her I'm P-chan yet."

"Yeah. Tomboy over there is a dumb as a brick-wall when it comes to 'P-chan'." Ranma murmured and earned himself a glare from Ryoga for insulting Akane.

"How dumb are we talkin' 'bout here?" Yusuke asked and Ranma opened his mouth to reply, but quickly shut it when he figured actions were louder than words.

Ranma dashed off to the kitchen.

"Where are you going Ranma-idiot? I've got your dinner here!" Akane bellowed.

"Looks like Saotome's going to get P-chan." Nabiki said with a bored look on her face and Akane blinked at her sister before Ranma came back into the kitchen with an easy-going smile on his face and a cup of water in his hand.

"Ah. Nice weather we're 'havin," Ranma stated casually, looking out at the open world and seeing that the sky had turned orange due to the fact the sun was starting to set.

"Hey, what's that?" This question left several confused expressions on the faces of Akane, Yusuke, Ryoga, Soun, and Genma.

"I think I know where this is going but I play along anyway," Nabiki said with a coy smile on her features, "Is it a plane?"

Ranma smirked when he saw Akane peering intently at the sky.

"Nope. It's,-" Ranma chucked the glass of cold water over Yusuke's head and onto Ryoga, causing the lost-boy to melt away, and leave a small, cute, black and annoyed piglet in his place.

"Ranma-idiot, there's nothing ther-." Akane's temper instantly faded away when she turned around and saw her favourite pet drying itself off, "P-chan!" Yusuke cringed while Akane walked over to P-chan and lifted him up with one hand, cooing at him lovingly, "Where'd you come from?" She glared at Yusuke, "Was Urameshi hiding you in his pocket?"

"Haha," Yusuke laughed nervously. He couldn't believe the girl's ignorance.

"Bwee." P-chan squealed.

"You must be hungry. Here let momma feed you since a certain _someone _is too much of a _jerk _to appreciate good food!" Akane shot Ranma a momentarily angry look before turning her head away from him disdainfully, making Ranma roll his eyes, while P-chan sweated nervously.

Akane then blissfully skipped off to her room with her homemade cooking and baby piglet in her arms, leaving Yusuke picking up his dropped jaw.

"What? In? The? Fuck? Just? Happened?" Yusuke asked, voicing every word after a small pause as if to add a dramatic effect to his stunned expression.

"A tomboy drugged up on stupidity happened," Ranma deadpanned.

"Yeah. She's a retard."

"Ranma-kun, be nice. She is your fiancé," Kasumi recommended.

Ranma rolled his eyes, "That was Pops' and Mr Tendo's idea. I ain't in no hurry to tie the knot with an uncute tomboy."

Genma leaped to his feet and drove his fist directly into his son's face, knocking him to the wall and watching seriously, as part of the wall chipped off, "Hey, whatcha do that for?" Ranma asked grumpily, shooting up to his feet and glaring at his old man, but his father wouldn't stand to have an disobedient son so he punched him again, knocking him to the ground and cracking it with the amount of power he packed into his punch.

"Grr. You can't be so choosy about women boy," Genma advised chidingly.

Soun nodded happily, "I agree with Saotome. You can't always have what you want lad."

"Don't I get a say in this?" Ranma grumped.

"No," Genma said sternly, grabbing his son by the neck and backhanding him across the face, forcing blood and saliva out of Ranma's mouth. He would beat his son into submission and obedience. He'd spent twelve long years moulding his son for the day he would carry on his and Soun's schools. Genma Saotome didn't give a rat's rear-end what his son wanted or rather he'd be happy or not, so long as his legacy continued.

That was all that mattered.

"Boy, I put forth a lot of time and effort in you so you could achieve my and Soun's dream of uniting our schools. I forbid you from backing out of this now, boy!" Genma was laying out the rules like a strict sheriff, as he raised his fist to strike his son again, but only to gasp upon finding his wrist caught in a steel-like grip.

"What was that 'bout making your son marry a retard, old man?" Yusuke asked in a dangerously calm tone of voice, striking fear in Genma's heart as he slowly turned his head over his shoulder to look at Yusuke. Genma had to remind himself this was the boy who had effortlessly outclassed Happosai. Yusuke wasn't normal and his motives were very much unclear.

"N-Now, U-Urameshi-k-kun, l-let's n-not be rash," Soun recommended in a nervous manner, moving his hands up and down in a placating manner. He gulped from the deadpanned look he got from Yusuke, "R-Ranma-k-kun i-is q-quite s-satisfied with marrying my Akane."

Yusuke scoffed, "You must take me for a first class sucker. Any fool with half a brain could tell Ranma and Akane ain't ready to tie the knot. Hell I bet my yard the two haven't even gotten outta first base."

"F-First b-base with A-Akane! I-I-I Th-. I d-dunno," Ranma stuttered.

Yusuke rolled his eyes, "Case closed." Genma winced and fell to his knees, as the pressure on his wrist increased slightly, making worry appear in Ranma's, Soun's, and Kasumi's eyes.

"Saotome!"

"How many grades were you two held back in school?" Yusuke asked.

"Urameshi-kun…" Soun stammered in desperation, "Y-You h-have t-to u-understand. Saotome and I have long since had a dream to unite our schools! We have to achieve our dream!" Tears ran down Soun's eyes.

"That so?" Yusuke asked and Soun sniffed, but nodded his head nonetheless, "And this 'blossoming fantasy' shared between a couple of ol' scary cats is enough of a reason to pawn off one of your daughters, eh?" Soun nodded his head, but winced at being called out for his cowardice.

Genma began to cry out in pain as Yusuke twisted his wrist. Thoughts of Yusuke's own father came rushing up to the surface. Memories he had longed thought had been buried since he had met Raizen, the only true father he'd known, were all revived just interacting with Genma and Soun.

They reminded Yusuke too much of his own father; Spineless, selfish, and a deadbeat. Oh. How Yusuke would love to find that S.O.B and beat the crap outta him for leaving him and his mother to fend for themselves.

"Oh my, Yusuke-kun, you're hurting Uncle Saotome," Kasumi said with a touch of fear in her voice and Yusuke had to remind himself of her innocence.

With that on his mind, the rude-boy merely released his grip on Genma's wrist and allowed the man to clutch pitifully at his bruised wrist.

"Ranma boy," Genma said huskily, almost in desperation to get his son to say he was fine with marrying Akane.

"Pops?" Ranma murmured. His expression was blank while he watched Yusuke berate his old man and Mr Tendo, 'Maybe I should get Yu-chan off of Pops' back. After all Pops has done nuthin' to deserve s-.' Ranma mused, but a rush of tortuous memories forced his contemplation of whether or not his pops deserved to be punish to such an extent to end.

The one of where Genma rolled him in tuna-and-bread, doused him in sardine-juice and hung him to a tree branch for hungry cats to aggressively attack him struck out like a thorn in his mind the most. But the memories of Genma promising him to every guy's daughter he met just to get a free meal also poked at Ranma.

"Say something boy," Genma demanded.

"Like what old man?" Ranma asked.

Genma lifted up his head to look at Ranma in the eyes, "Tell the boy you don't mind marrying Akane. Tell him it's for the good of the school."

"I thought ya said girls are stupid, weak, and distraction from the art," Ranma quoted and Kasumi shook her head at Genma.

Genma growled, "This is different! You're honour bound to carry on the legacy of the Saotome School of Anything Goes and unite it with the Tendo one! Take responsibility, and marry Akane! Love doesn't matter in martial arts! As martial artists, we're sworn to keep our style alive no matter what!"

"Well-spoken Saotome old friend," Soun said with a happy nod of his head.

"Sheesh. It's getting stinky in here with the amount of contradictory crap coming outta your ass, old man," Yusuke looked unimpressed at Genma, "First ya say Ranma shouldn't be fussy with a chick… hmm, I dunno, he'll be glued to until the day he dies. And now ya say love doesn't matter in marriage?" Yusuke shook his head, "What kinda backwards ass world did ya fall out of, and land on your head?"

Genma scowled, "You don't understand the way of our life."

"It ain't exactly rocket science to see two pieces of a puzzle won't fit old man," Yusuke quipped dryly.

"'Sides, I wanna get stronger. I ain't got no plans to settle down with any girl, especially one as uncute and tomboyish as Akane," Ranma added.

Soun wailed with his arm covering his eyes.

"You take that back boy!" Genma demanded and Ranma stuck his tongue out at him.

Yusuke shoved his hands into his pockets, "I'm outta here," Yusuke began walking over to the porch but stopped to look over his shoulder at Ranma, "You up for a walk down thoughtful lane or what?"

Ranma took a look around and observed the expressions on Kasumi's, Genma's, Soun's, and Nabiki's faces.

Kasumi had a blank expression on her face, Genma had a warning look on his, Soun had a pleading one on his, and Nabiki on an earnest curious one on hers.

"Sure. Beats gettin' an ass whoopin' into submission," Ranma said.

Yusuke hummed calmly, "Yeah. I can pick up Ryo later. Let him spend some time with crazy-girl for now," Yusuke's expression turned dark as a smile came to his face and he turned around to look at Nabiki, "You're still on my to-do list Nabs. We'll deal with our meeting later."

'Damn. I was hoping he'd forget about me.' Nabiki mused while Ranma looked at the two in confusion.

"Legs go," Yusuke said and Ranma nodded.

"Smell ya later, Pops."

"Boy..."

XxX

The sun had finally completed its job for the day, and as such had left the world. In its place taking the night-shift was the silvery moon, attempting to offer some semblance of light with a dimmed silver one. But of course it wasn't enough, not that it mattered since the street-lights also offered an outlet for people wandering the streets of Nerima.

Ranma and Yusuke were walking at a reserved pace in the shopping district of Nerima, the former was a little tense but the latter was nonchalant though.

Ranma was just wondering what he'd do from here. He obviously couldn't go back to the Tendo Dojo, unless he wanted a beating from his old man. He didn't want to marry Akane.

He didn't remind the idea of relationships, but he was honestly starting to get sick and tired of arguing with Akane, going back and forth in their futile progress to come to terms with the idea of marrying one another to satisfy their fathers.

Never mind the fact Akane seemingly preferred Ryoga to Ranma anyway. Was it natural for a wife to take her husband's rival side over the man she'd married?

Ranma honestly didn't know the answer to this question, but he could at least say he didn't like the idea of Akane always taking Ryoga's side if they were to tie the knot.

"Has your old man always been like that?" Yusuke eventually broke the silence between him and Ranma.

"Whaddya mean Yu-chan?" Ranma asked while folding his arms behind his head.

"Y'know. The whole pawning ya off on some crazy gal for his own needs thing?" Yusuke inquired.

Ranma shrugged, "It ain't the first time."

Yusuke gave him an incredulous look, "The hell?"

"Yep. Before I even knew what an engagement was he promised me to a good friend of mine named Ucchan in exchanged for her pop's okonomiyaki cart. In the end Pops just bailed with me and the cart and left Ucchan behind. I only found out a few months ago when Ucchan managed to track me down. That was a _pleasant_ reunion," Ranma snorted sarcastically.

"Damn."

"Yeah."

"I'm half surprised ya don't just go on the run or something," Yusuke said.

Ranma shook his head, "Easier said then done, don't ya think?"

"Naw," Yusuke smiled in an easy-going manner and waved his hand, "With your other side-," Yusuke elbowed Ranma with a cheeky grin on his face, "I bet my bottom dollar you'd be rollin' around in nuff money to live nine lives." As if some deity from above wanted to prove Yusuke's point thunder clouds were heard before tiny drips of water started to fall lifelessly to the ground.

"Aw, great. Fate's being a real jackass today," Ranma said in annoyance while the rain doused his form. The guy in front of Yusuke melted away and left the beautiful redhead girl Yusuke had first met earlier.

"I dunno, I think lady luck likes singing my tune," Yusuke leered teasingly at Ranma.

Ranma rolled her eyes, "Can it bub!"

"Pigtailed girl!"

"I'm sensing another crackpot's coming outta the woodwork right?" Yusuke asked a smirking Ranma.

A tall handsome boy with wavy brown hair came surging up to Ranma and Yusuke. He had light skin and dark eyes. He wore a blue kimono-top, black hakama, and sandals. In his hand was his weapon of choice. He wielded a plain wooden sword.

"How I have longed to see thee my fiery goddess!" The mad-boy leapt at Ranma and ate a foot to his face courtesy of the redhead.

"Well he went down like a sack of potatoes," Yusuke muttered before finding Ranma's arms wrapped around his neck.

"You dunno how long I've been itching to do that to that perv since the old letch took my strength away, Yu-chan!" Ranma said brightly, hugging Yusuke, "I've got to hand it to ya, man, you do have your uses. Now I can go back to stomping a mud hole in this dumbass!"

"Well, shucks, I try," Yusuke said dumbly, and Ranma nodded her head happily, never noticing the lunatic-boy raise to his feet only to see her with her arms around Yusuke's neck.

"Pigtailed goddess!" He gasped, "Foul knave. What are thee doing to thou Pigtailed goddess? Unhand her immediately, or I shall smite thee where thee stand!"

Ranma and Yusuke blinked a couple of times at the lunatic-boy before their small attention-spans caught the gist of what he was implying.

A devious smirk appeared on Yusuke's face.

Ranma gaped, "Oh hell! You actually think we're an ite-."

"Yep. She's my bird. What of it?" Yusuke lied casually, ensnaring Ranma's waist with a trolling grin on his face while Ranma gawked at him, "Pretty lil thing, aren't she?"

The crazy-boy was furious, "Nay! Nay, nay I say! Thy very idea of thee becoming one with the celestial goddess is preposterous! Thee must have bewitched her! I will not stand for this foul knave! I shall smite thee and rescue the pigtailed goddess!" The lunatic-wannabe samurai boy rationalized.

"Believe it or not Wacko, this fine piece of ass is all mine," Yusuke joked and the wannabe samurai raged.

"…What the hell are you doing?" Ranma murmured harshly, feeling a little uncomfortable with Yusuke rubbing up her thighs and stomach.

"You want this nutter to leave ya alone right?"

"Yeah, but-."

"Then role-play with me gal. I know what I'm doing."

Ranma just deadpanned a look at Yusuke, "I hope you realize Mr samurai-boy over there is as thick-headed as tomboy."

"Damn. That bad eh?"

"You dunno the half of it lover-boy."

"So I don't. You'll have to show me sometime, _doll._"

Ranma rolled her eyes, and looked at the mentally unstable boy wielding a wooden sword and holding his stance with a look of patience on his face.

"Pigtailed goddess, is what this barbaric knave speaks of is true, that thy beauteous self would succumb to his treacherous ways?" The aspiring samurai questioned.

Ranma wanted to face-palm herself at the desperation she seen in the boy's eyes. He was really hoping she would confirm she had been tricked into 'hooking up' with Yusuke so he could rescue her, and live happily ever after with his 'pigtailed goddess' and the beauteous Akane Tendo.

'Well, if nuthin else, maybe this numbskull will forget 'bout his mission to waste 'the foul sorcerer Saotome' if I play along with Yu-chan's sham,' Ranma rationalized, a cheeky smirk crossing her features, 'Yeah. Why not? Could be fun. Alright Yu-chan, if ya want a pseudo-girlfriend then ya can deal with this loony, not me!'

Those were the consequences of pretending to be Ranma Saotome's partner, fake or not; the culprit will have to deal with a tenacious, mocked-samurai and his fantasy of slaying the wicked one who had bewitched his fair maiden and rescue said girl.

"Pigtailed goddess?" The boy tried again with something akin to concern in his eyes.

Ranma's eyes sparkled and blinked beautifully, her cute girl act now in play, as she tightened her grip around Yusuke's neck and rubbed her cheek against his, "Oh, Kuno! You have it all wrong! I am in fact very happy with Yu-chan! He's the bested guy a gal could have!' Kuno gasped, while Yusuke's trolling smile turned goofy.

'Hook, line, sinker; what a first class sucker,' Ranma smirked inwardly.

"Nay!" Kuno denied, "How dare thee! Thee have corrupted the pigtailed goddess and used some sort of foul trickery to make her succumb to thy sick desires! Thee are truly more villainous than that of the foul sorcerer Saotome! Thee shall face judgement at the hands of the blue thunder of Furinkan High school, Tatewaki Kuno!"

Yusuke tilted his head to the side in confusion while Ranma was doing a victory dance in her head, 'Bingo. The sap fell for this lil ploy like the dummy he is. Heh. Like taking candy from a baby, now it's time to go for the kill,' Ranma mused, "Oh no, Kuno, you have it all wrong. Yu-chan didn't trick me. He rightfully won me from the foul sorcerer Saotome. He treats me so well. He even promised to buy me all the ice cream I could ask for."

Kuno looked like he wanted to have a heart attack, "It's worse than I thought. The treacherous Yu-chan shall be slayed by the great and honourable Kuno-sama! Ranma is that of a saint in comparison to the wicked Yu-chan! And I shall see to it personally thee is expunged from this world and free thou Pigtailed maiden!"

"Does this guy eat crack for every meal?" Yusuke mumbled with a bead of sweat rolling off of his cheek, looking at a snickering Ranma, "Why didn't ya tell me stick-up his ass was that much of a wacko?"

"Hey, you wanted a pseudo-relationship, not me _hubby. _So now ya gotta deal with him," Yusuke was close to gawking at the devious redhead's way of shoving her problem onto him, "Tables have turned eh Yu-chan?"

"I hate you."

"I love too!"

Yusuke shook his head in amusement before fixing his eyes on Kuno, "Okay, partner. Legs dance." Yusuke extended his right arm forward and closed his hand into a fist, poking out only his pinkie finger, "Legs see how ya handle the appetizer," A bright orb of blue spirit energy formed on Yusuke's finger, much to Kuno's annoyance who kept himself held in a simple sword-stance.

"**Reigan (Spirit Gun)**!"

Kuno scoffed at the boulder-sized energy blast coming from Yusuke's finger and heading straight for him.

Kuno merely drove his wooden sword through Yusuke's spirit gun and cancelled it out effortlessly, much to Ranma's shock.

"Did… ya just burst Yu-chan's reigan like a bubble?" Ranma asked.

"Of course. For I would've to be no more but a mere amateur to fall for such trickery," Kuno insisted in an arrogant tone of voice.

As if to demonstrate to his own destructive power, Kuno lazily flicked his sword to the side. A wind crescent-shaped air pressure flew from Kuno's sword, Ranma's eyes tracking it all the way to a skyscraper where it drove into it.

A line appeared in the skyscraper before the top half of it exploded upwards and evaporated into tiny pieces of pebbles.

Ranma's mouth was hanging open, "Oh snap, ya just cut a building in half like it ain't nuthin!"

"But of course. For I have been training to rescue thee from the evil clutches of the foul sorcerer Saotome and banish him to the abyss of hell where he'd face his penance for his sins against thy beauteous-self, Pigtailed maiden! However, it now seems the circumstances have changed. The wicked Yu-chan has tainted thee and is far more villainous than Saotome. I shall smite the miscreant Yu-chan where he stands. Wait for thou pigtailed goddess! I, Tatewaki Kuno, shall rescue thee!"

"Oh this ought to be fun," Yusuke said with his nonchalant eyes observing the work of Kuno's casual slice, "Heh. You ain't pulling no punches, enit wacko?" Yusuke taunted, removing himself from Ranma and walking a few inches forward with his hands in his pockets.

Kuno blurred forward in an Akuma-esque movement and whammed the frontal-part of his blade towards Yusuke who countered by throwing a right roundhouse-punch at the incoming weapon.

When fist met sword a tremor was created, one powerful enough to rupture the ground and knock girl-Ranma on her butt.

"Wah!" Ranma sputtered out and rubbed her rear-end irritably, adjusting herself on her knees to watch the two fighters go at it, consequences be damned.

"Foul knave. The pigtailed goddess is in need of a saviour. I will not stoop as low as to give nothing less, but all of thou thunderous power to free her godly beauty," Kuno said, pushing against Yusuke's fist.

Kuno retracted his sword to hold it to the side and unleash a fierce spinning sideways slash at Yusuke, but the speedy demon flipped up, and over the sword and the shockwave which followed after it; another building was abruptly made into two.

"Well ya got one thing right. Ranma-chan is a looker, but she ain't on the menu," Yusuke said.

Ranma blushed, 'Okay, bub, you're gettin' a lil too comfy with this.'

"Your bewitched ways will not fool me, the blue thunder of Furinkan High school, Tatewaki Kuno! You shall face thy penance for thy crimes against the pigtailed maiden!" Kuno yelled, raising his wooden sword above his head and bringing it tumbling downward to Yusuke.

Yusuke danced to the side, expertly keeping his balance from the massive crater Kuno made with his wooden sword!

"Be gone I say!" Kuno commanded.

Kuno shoved his elbow to the side in the hopes of nailing Yusuke.

Yusuke was able to flip up and land skilfully on Kuno's elbow, "Ah. Sup, doc?" Yusuke quipped mockingly, leaving Kuno unamused as he expertly rolled his arm outward and sent another huge shockwave which sliced a bank building in two, "Plannin' on dipping your hand in the cookie jar, are we?"

Kuno scowled and attempted to shake Yusuke off of him by doing a 360 spin, but the speedy demon leaped off of him and held himself in the air by unleashing his blue aura, sticking his leg out and knocking the spinning-top of Kuno away, Kuno rapidly twisting out of control and driving over to two buildings.

The buildings collapsed the instant Kuno connected with them and a small tremor was felt by Ranma and the glowing Yusuke.

"Just what kinda emotion is Yu-chan using to bring his battle aura out like that?" Ranma wondered to herself.

She'd only ever be aware of a martial artist tapping into one's emotion to release one's battle aura, like how the old letch's used his boiling hot lust to power up, Pop's was glutton, and Mr Tendo's was sloth. Everyone who had knowledge of Ki around Nerima tapped into some kind of emotion to bring out their auras.

Even Akane, as weak as she was, used righteous fury to bring out her aura while Ryoga manipulated his depression and Ranma just used straight-up confidence like a _fierce tiger! _

But Yusuke was different. His aura didn't feel like any of theirs. It almost had a plain, stoic feel to it; almost like Yusuke brought it out naturally without concentrating so terribly, and exaggeratingly on a single emotion. And for that it was making Yusuke far more powerful than anyone Ranma had ever saw. Period.

"Just… how did Yu-chan gather such power in the tank?" Ranma asked herself. Now she was almost glad she had accepted Yusuke's invite to walk the streets, and collect her thoughts on the whole arranged marriage between her and Akane.

Ranma could reach a whole new level of power if she played her cards right.

"I have to get Yu-chan to show me how to fight like he does," Ranma mused resolutely, while a hurricane was released where Kuno lay in the fallen pebbles of the former buildings of a charity shop, and a coffee shop.

"FOUL KNAVE!" Kuno shouted in outrage. The pebbles were all blown away to the highest parts of the clouds, and left Kuno standing in a fairly huge crater, "I will not stand for thy vile magic! Thy penance awaits thee barbaric swine!"

Ranma rolled her eyes, looking on dryly, "Always lookin' to make excuses for his shortcomings. Boy, I sure wish someone could knock the air outta him and dislodge the stick up his ass…"

Yusuke ushered Kuno to come at him by extending his arm outwards, rolling his arm around so he could see the flat side of his palm, and flipping his fingers towards himself in a fanning motion, "Just bring it."

Ranma grinned, "Gotta love wrestling."

"Do not try my patience miscreant!" Kuno demanded, dashing over to Yusuke who made no attempts to dodge, but instead just raise his left arm up the moment Kuno got within reach of him and swung his sword at him.

Sparks were seen flying between Kuno's wooden sword and Yusuke's aura-shrouded arm as if steel had met metal rather than wood meeting flesh. Cars, lampposts, and a building got annihilated from the shockwave of Kuno's sword clashing with Yusuke's arm.

Kuno scowled, hardening his eyes staring at the steely gaze of Yusuke, "Not too shabby, for a chump," Yusuke said, sticking his foot into Kuno's stomach and shoving the boy away from him, watching him bounce off of the damage ground like a soccer ball, "But you're gonna need more juice than that to ruffle my feathers."

Kuno scowled up at Yusuke from where he laid on his stomach. He stabbed his sword into the ground and dragged himself up to his feet. His angry look now turned into a look of disgust.

"Aw, don't be a spoil sport. Tell ya what, 'cause ya seem like a swell enough guy," Yusuke began, 'retarded more like,' Yusuke mused, "-I'm gonna give ya a free pass to come and release a fountain of blood from my neck," Kuno looked suspiciously at Yusuke while Ranma's mouth fell open.

Yusuke just leaned his head to the side and tapped his neck, "Pin your tooth pick here. I dare ya."

"What in the hell is he thinking?" Ranma wondered to herself.

"I will not succumb to thy mind games, vile creature!" Kuno yelled.

The samurai charged Yusuke down like a raging bull, "I shall smite thee for thy insolence! The pigtailed goddess shall be freed from thy wicked clutches!"

Yusuke smirked, "That's right. Come pin the tail on the donkey," Kuno reached Yusuke and slashed at the spot he was leaving wide open, in this case the open spot being his neck. The force caused another huge skyscraper to vaporize into nothingness.

Kuno smirked, believing he had slayed the evil one until…

***snap***

His very sword snapped in two, the top half flying away from the rest of it.

"Looks like you wasn't up for the challenge," Yusuke said coolly, not even a scratch on his neck despite the fact it had taken a blow from a sword capable of cutting through city blocks like toilet paper.

Kuno was stunned.

"…Preposterous," Kuno mumbled, slowly backing away from Yusuke, "Thee are far more skilled than Saotome," Kuno turned around and began walking off, "I fear the miscreant Yu-chan shall take _far_ more preparation to slay."

"You shooting off already?" Kuno stopped at the sound of Yusuke's voice, "Didn't think the party had ended already. I'm still game if you are."

Kuno turned his head to give Yusuke a look of resolution, "Fear not swine. I, Tatewaki Kuno, am merely calling for a brief stop to our battle. When I return it shall be thee who shall be lying face first on the ground. I shall smite thee. This I swear," Kuno looked at Ranma, "Wait for me pigtailed goddess, the blue thunder of Furinkan High School won't rest until thee is freed from the clutches of the miscreant Yu-chan."

"Okay, Kuno! See ya next day of destruction! Buy, buy!" Ranma gushed in her cute girl voice before mumbling underneath her breath, "…Yeah. I'll wait for ya, when hell freezes over, nut-job!"

Yusuke walked over to Ranma, "Does that nutter even know you're both the 'pigtailed goddess' and the 'foul sorcerer Saotome' or what? 'Cause it seems like in his messed up lil world your curse form and birth form ain't two sides of the same coin!"

"Nope!" Ranma chirped brightly, "And ya gotta deal with him now, Yu-chan! After tonight I won't have to bother with that loser ever again!" Ranma threw her arms up, and leaped to her feet, "He'll think you nabbed my curse form off of my real form so he'll stop harassing me and start bugging you!"

Yusuke just rubbed the side of his neck and let out a sigh of annoyance, "What kinda hot water mixed with crazy herbs have I landed myself in?" Ranma just giggled at Yusuke before he turned his miffed stare onto her, "You let me go along with this lil ploy knowing that would happen."

Ranma was just looking too innocent now.

"…Next time I suggest we play house you have my permission to take a gun and pop a cap in my ass."

"Can do, Yu-chan!"

"I tell ya it ain't fun to have an institution escapee coming after your head thinking he's Dog the bounty hunter," Yusuke groused, marching forward with Ranma right by his side.

"Tell me 'bout it. I've had loony-boy either tryin' to cop a feel when I'm in girl-form or pop my head off of my shoulders when I'm in guy-form," Ranma added and Yusuke sighed at Kuno's madness, "Say, where are we headin' too anyway, Yu-chan?"

"Well ain't that the million dollar question."

Ranma almost face palmed herself, "You dummy!"

"Easy, don't get your panties in a twist," Ranma glared at Yusuke for that commit, "I know where we're heading." Yusuke took a moment to contemplate with Ranma patiently crossing her arms over her chest, "Got it. You wanna get stronger, right?"

Ranma blinked, "Well, yeah. Sure beats marrying an uncute tomboy like Akane. In fact I was just thinkin' what emotion is your Ki based off, Yu-chan?"

"Hm. My spirit I guess," Yusuke guessed.

"Huh? But wouldn't that mean you're using your chi?" Ranma asked and Yusuke shrugged.

"Yeah legs go with that." Yusuke said and Ranma pouted at him.

"Okay, how did ya tap into that?" Ranma asked eagerly.

"I died," Yusuke answered dryly.

Ranma just gave Yusuke a straightforward look, "C'mom man, be serious."

"Thought I was."

Ranma shook her head at Yusuke, but gained a curious look on her face when she seen he wasn't grinning or laughing in the slightest, "Oh snap. You're serious, you really did die."

"Now you're getting it. Saved a kid's life by shoving the little runt outta the way of a speeding car," Yusuke explained and then sighed, "The squirt woulda rolled through apparently even if I hadn't tagged him out for myself," Yusuke sulked.

Ranma was trying to wrap her head around the fact the boy beside her had died, but yet was still walking beside her, "So if you died, how haven't ya booked a room up in the luxury hotel up in the big blue sky."

Yusuke looked at Ranma and hardened his eyes, "Legs just say god loves me."

"Must do," Ranma replied dryly, "So if you had to kick the bucket to tap into your chi and master the reigan, how can I do it?"

"You ain't gonna quit until you have it down are you?"

"Of course I'm not gonna throw in the towel! Ranma Saotome doesn't lose!"

"Cept to me," Yusuke smirked and received a wallop to his arm from Ranma.

"Shove it!" Ranma said.

"Well if you really dig the reigan I suppose I could introduce you to granny," Yusuke contemplated.

Ranma had a confused look on her features, "Granny?"

"Yeah. The old hag worked her magic on me, I'm sure she could do the same to you," Yusuke suggested, "Besides, your old man's messed up. I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but it doesn't take a genius to realize leaving you there ain't the brightest idea."

"Oh. The old panda ain't so bad Yu-chan." Ranma said, since Genma was still her father. She at least had some affection for the old man who wouldn't think twice to sell her off for a free meal.

Yusuke deadpanned a look at Ranma, "As bad as a couch potato can be."

"Okay, so he's not perfect."

"Not perfect is the understatement of the semester."

"But he's still Pops, to an extent."

Yusuke shook his head, "Whatever floats your boat."

"Uhm, Yu-chan," Yusuke looked at girl-Ranma with an raised eyebrow, noticing her pushing her index fingers together shyly, "I really appreciate what you did for me back at the Tendos. Standin' up against Pops like that. You're one stand up guy."

Yusuke offered the girl a shrug of his shoulders, "Don't mention it. It just bugs me to see someone getting forced to marry anyone y'know. Plus I kinda already made a vow to Ryo that I would help him score Akane."

"Yeah I kinda figured that." Ranma deadpanned and Yusuke gave her a grin of bashfulness, "So shall we go to granny's then?"

"Yep. I got my GPS system set on a one-way course to Granny's!"

* * *

**That'll be it for this chapter. Ranma'll be training with Genkai and Ryoga with Yusuke along with some other characters like Akane since Yusuke eyeing a future for her with Ryoga. **

**Kuno. Some of you may be wondering why did you, Thugs Bunny 009, make him so strong? Well I'll answer that because it's fucking funny, seeing a mad-boy taking out buildings like they're nothing. Not to mention guys like Chu in YuYu Hakusho are country level by this stage. Ranma 1/2 characters have to show some potential if they wanna catch up to the powerhouses of YuYu Hakusho. **


	5. Love is a Natural Thing

**Disclaimer: I don't own YuYu Hakusho or Ranma. If I did I would probably model Ranma after Kazuma from Kaze no Stigma. That dude's a badass, for only a badass can do something perverted and still be a badass by just dodging his tsundere's attempts to dish a 'righteous punishment' and mock her while doing so.**

* * *

**Chapter 5 **

**Love is a Natural Thing**

"So, this is where granny lives, huh?" Ranma asked after she and Yusuke had ascended a set of stone steps, coming to a stop outside of a temple and a blue phoenix-like creature lying next to the temple, 'Huh? Now there's sumthin you don't see every day. What in the blazin' hell is that?'

"Yep. Legs see if the old hag's up to taking on one more student." Yusuke said while Ranma looked curiously at the phoenix-creature. She kept looking at it even as Yusuke knocked on the door a couple of times.

The phoenix-esque creature just opened its eyes and stared at Ranma.

And it didn't stop.

It kept on staring at Ranma-chan.

"…"

"…"

'Uhm. Okay, not quite sure what to think here,' Ranma mused, fidgeting nervously under the pheonix's piercing gaze.

Yusuke noticed the phoenix looking at Ranma, "Pu! Stop checking out Ranma!" Yusuke commanded with a half-hearted glare at Pu, and Pu just squeaked.

Yusuke rubbed his temples and thought about his childhood sweetheart, Keiko, doing things with her like shopping, or going to see a movie with her, and even doing inappropriate activities with her. Those thoughts of Keiko were enough to get Pu's eyes off of Ranma as he rested his head down on the ground and closed his eyes.

"W-What! You mean birdie here has a name?" Ranma sputtered out and then blushed, "And it was checking me out like a piece of meat?"

"Yeah," Yusuke said in annoyance, scratching the side of his head, "What I am on in the inside Pu is on the outside. You get my drift?"

"Snap," Ranma blinked and started to put the pieces together, "So if you're sayin' Pu is just a representation of yourself, then wouldn't that mean you dig my gir-?"

The door opened up and ended Ranma's question.

A demure green haired girl poked her head out of the door, "Oh. It's you Urameshi-san. Kazuma's not back from University if you're wondering." Her long green was a mess and fell to her back and she had a tired look on her face that indicated she had just woken up. Her complexion was light and she wore a light pink dress with a brown cardigan sweater.

"Thanks for the heads-up, Yukina, but I'm actually here to request a favour from the old hag," Yusuke said coolly, making the girl now known as Yukina blink in confusion as she caught sight of the redheaded girl next to Yusuke.

"What's all the ruckus? Don't you realize people are trying to sleep," An old feminine, grumpy voice rang out through the air, causing Ranma to raise an eyebrow, while a grin spread across Yusuke's face.

Yukina retracted her head and a head of dark pink hair took its place, "So the Dimwit's come back huh?" The diminutive lady said and looked at Ranma, "And it looks like he brought a friend with him this time."

"Hey, granny!" Yusuke greeted cheerfully, rudely pushing the door open and making Genkai jump back to avoid being knocked over, "What's shaking?" Yusuke embraced the sighing old woman in a hug. Ranma could see the reluctant acceptance on the tiny old lady's face.

Although Genkai was tiny, she wasn't as short as Happosai or Cologne, but at the same time she was nearly as powerful as them either. Genkai wore clothes representing her status of a martial artist.

Genkai wanted to beat up Yusuke, but she knew she couldn't. Yusuke was already far surpassed her, to the point where he could just fart and accidentally murder her.

"Dimwit! If you didn't have the power to possibly destroy the world I'd smack you upside your head and make you run laps around town for barging in here like that," Genkai griped and Ranma blinked.

Yu-chan was packing that kind of _immense _power. No wonder she couldn't lay a finger on him.

"Aw, I already survived your hellish training once before granny, I ain't doin' it again," Yusuke said, letting go of Genkai.

"Good point. Then what are you doing here?" Genkai asked, looking at Ranma, "And what's she doing here?"

Ranma flinched, "He."

Genkai raised an eyebrow.

Yusuke jerked a thumb at Ranma, "That's Ranma Saotome, alias Red." Yusuke introduced Ranma and earned himself a pout from the redhead for the nickname he gave her, "Red needs a place to crash."

"And you just happened to figure my temple would be the best place for her why, Dimwit?" Genkai asked.

"'Cause you're a military couch at heart, Granny. I know you can put Red through her paces," Yusuke grinned at Genkai in a cheeky manner.

Genkai sighed, "You can't just leave me to die, can you?"

Yusuke frowned, "Cut that crap out, Granny! You ain't ever gonna hop on the bus to Spirit World!"

Genkai deadpanned a look at Yusuke, "Yusuke, you must understand we are all bound to die at some time in our lives. You mustn't run away from death, otherwise you'll turn into Toguro."

"La, la, la, la, la, la," Yusuke plugged up his ears with his index fingers, making Yukina give him a sympathetic look, "Not listenin' Granny! Just look after Red for me, will ya! I can't leave her at that lunatic-asylum! Most of the dudes and gals that live there are all off of their heads! I ain't kidding either! They're whack-jobs, I swear down! I only Red, a house-lady named Kasumi, and Ryo, my new student seem to be the sanest ones around there!"

"And you decided to involve yourself in other people's affairs, why Dimwit?" Genkai asked expectantly.

"'Cause her old man's a douche," Yusuke grumbled.

Genkai looked at Ranma and the redhead only offered the old lady a shrug of her shoulders and a nod of her head.

"So how about it Granny, you up for training one more lil rascal or what?" Yusuke wondered with a grin on his face and Ranma pouted at Yusuke.

Genkai let out a sigh, "If it shuts you up, I suppose taking on one last disciple wouldn't hurt me or weaken my chances of getting a good place up in the Spirit World." Yusuke pouted at Genkai. As far as he was concerned he was never going to let anyone die. Ever.

"Booyah!" Ranma yelled cheerfully, "Nice one you old hag! I give you my word I won't leg you down! I'll have your techniques down in no time squat!" Yukina looked at Ranma and tilted her head to the side, taking notice to the similarities between her and Yusuke Urameshi.

'She's just like Urameshi-kun. No wonder he brought her here if her home's as bad as he says it is,' Yukina rationalized.

"Who said I was going to teach you anything brat?" Genkai asked grouchily.

Ranma's jaw dropped, "Say what now?"

"I said I'd train you, I didn't say I'd pass anything down to you. You just assumed I would. The techniques I possess can be deadly if used by the wrong hands. If you can't even survive the simple training sessions I will prepare for you then I see no reason why I should show you anything, Dimwit two."

Ranma perked up, "Just watch me you old fart! I'll blitz through anything you can throw at me!" Genkai took a moment to observe the determined expression on the girl's face, enhanced by the fire in her eyes.

"Well I can see why Dimwit one has taken a liking to you," Genkai stated, looking at Yusuke with a teasing smile on her face and her former student blushed in response.

Yusuke threw his arms up in the air in a frustrated manner and made an incoherent noise.

"Real mature of you, Dimwit," Genkai said sarcastically.

"Yeah, yeah," Yusuke groaned in annoyance as he spun on his heels, "I'm outta here anyway. Red I'll catch you later. Right now I gotta pick up Ryo, and put his lost pork ass through military school."

Ranma grinned, "Alright. Tell Pig-boy I'll be waitin' to send his ass on an-all expensive paid trip to the hospital once you get finished with him Yu-chan!" Genkai was intrigued by the endearing honour suffix Ranma added on to Yusuke's name.

Just what did Yusuke do for her gain such respect from her in this short amount of time?

Yusuke must've really been telling the truth. Ranma's hometown must really be a living nightmare.

Yusuke smiled, "Will do!" With that Yusuke casually made Ranma's rear-end jiggle with a cheeky spank, making the redhead flinch while a goofy smile crossed Yusuke's face.

"You perv!" Ranma shouted angrily, trying to spin kick Yusuke, but the trolling boy effortlessly danced his way over to the door, "You come back here!"

Yusuke opened up the door and waltzed on out of it, momentarily poking his head in the door way, "Oh, and granny, just dump some hot water on Red. She'll fill you in on the rest. Buy!" Yusuke then slammed the door shut and left the three women to themselves.

"Little perv," Ranma raged.

"Saotome-san," Yukina began in a gentle manner, making Ranma look at her curiously. The redhead could see a lot of similarities between Yukina and Kasumi, "What did Urameshi-san mean by Genkai-san should pour hot water on you."

"Blame my old man," Ranma deadpanned, brightening up a bit to ask Yukina a question, "Yukina, right?"

Yukina smiled, "That's correct."

"Anyway, Pops took me to a place called Jusenkyo in China despite the fact he couldn't read a lick of Chinese. One thing led to another and we both ended up falling in a couple of springs some random ass girl and fat panda drowned in how many odd years ago," Ranma explained casually, "Bottom line is, we doomed to take on the form of a gal and a panda whenever we splashed with cold water."

"What kind of irresponsible father would foolishly get his own child cursed?" Genkai asked with her arms folded behind her back.

"Mine." Ranma answered with a dry look on her face.

"I can see why Dimwit brought you here then," Genkai said. Yusuke always had a kind heart.

"So that means you were born a male, Saotome-san?" Yukina asked.

"Yep. Hot water turns me back into a guy," Ranma said.

Yukina gave Ranma a bow, "I'm sorry that you have to live your life with such a curse."

Ranma waved her hand dismissively, and winked with a grin on her features, "Don't worry 'bout it. Being a girl does come with it's advantages sumtimes."

"Anyway, she-boy, we'll discuss the conditions of your training in the morning. Right now I'm going back to sleep," Genkai informed, "You'd be smart to get some sleep if you hope to survive the training I've got in stored for you."

"Lady, I'm gonna blow your mind away."

XxX

(Nerima – Tendo Dojo – With Yusuke)

XxX

"Piece of cake," Yusuke grinned.

The teenage half demon threw away a toothpick and casually slid open the door to the Tendo Dojo, sauntering on inside without Ranma Saotome, the 'quote-on-quote', destined heir to this school, by his side.

Yusuke snorted.

As far as he was concerned he had done the right thing dropping Ranma off at Genkai's to be looked after and trained. The old woman may be a lonely, miserable old hag, but Yusuke couldn't deny she was good mother-material.

Just like how Raizen had taken on that fatherly role in Yusuke's life, Genkai had taken on that motherly-role or grandmotherly-role in his life.

Genkai was a good woman and an excellent teacher. She could teach Ranma a few new tricks despite the fact Ranma was already far surpassed her. Ranma was closer to 100% Toguro's level.

Ranma would be fine there. Less pressure on her since there ain't any nut-jobs like Happosai or Kuno to stress Ranma out, or an ignorant fiancée looking to pinpoint the blame for everything on her/him.

There was no doubt in Yusuke's mind that Ranma wasn't ready for a date let alone marriage and to someone like Akane no less, someone who after today seemed like the kind of person who wanted to get mad at Ranma for the sake of losing her temper.

After picking up her pet 'pig' she immediately put the blame on Ranma for the reason why P-chan was keeping away from her and the Tendo Dojo, giving Yusuke a small insight on her negative traits which seemingly shown themselves around Ranma, but funnily enough her more good traits, her sweet persona, only shown itself around Ryoga.

If Keiko had ever shown Yusuke such disdain like he was the worst human being on the planet, but offered such kindness to Kuwabara, he would've bitch-slapped her and never looked at her again. Period. Self-respect was an important thing a man should have.

And Genma honestly wanted his son to abandon his mortals, and his dignify to marry Akane so he and she could selflessly carry on such a school and unite it with the Tendo one.

That wasn't nearly making any sense to Yusuke since Genma wanted Ranma to be a 'man among men'. How the heck can Ranma be a respectful man if he/she can't even be treated respectfully by his own fiancée?

Never mind fiancée; Ranma hasn't even got the luxury of meeting a nice girl and getting to know her slowly.

That wasn't a man in Yusuke's opinion.

Yusuke shook his head as he stealthily entered Akane's room, "Geez. What kinda defence mechanism is strong enough to keep the wool over your eyes, girly?" Yusuke muttered, looking at the sleeping Akane cuddling 'P-chan' rather tightly, as if she was frightened someone would take him away from her.

If it wasn't for today, Yusuke might have been shocked to what Ranma told him on the way to Genkai's. The half girl, half boy told Yusuke Akane had ignorantly threw a bucket of cold water over Ryoga during an episode where some laughing calligraphy martial artist had shown up in town and wasn't accepting a challenge from anyone who couldn't properly write out a letter in curves.

Ryoga had easily wrote out the letter of a formal challenge to the man due to having great handwriting, something Ranma had not, and was a little ashamed of. But even still Ryoga was still beaten and dirtied thoroughly.

How Akane didn't end up finding out about Ryoga's curse was beyond Ranma.

"Must have some kinda fetish for cute animals, eh Blindy," Yusuke mumbled with a look of annoyance on his face.

"Ranma."

"Huh?" Yusuke's chagrin basically called a cab, left the vicinity, and was replaced by interest.

It might have been Yusuke's imagination, but he could have sworn he heard Akane choke back a sob.

So, wanting to satisfy his curiosity before it killed him like it murdered the cat, Yusuke blinked his eyes, and leaned his head closer to get a better look at Akane.

A tear stained Akane's cute face.

"Ranma."

Yusuke let out a heavy sigh, "Ack. What a wishy-washy gal. And piggy really wants to hit _this_?" Yusuke scratched his head, "Did momma not give ya enough attention or what Ryo?" A smirk crossed Yusuke's features, his thumb wiping the bridge of his nose, "If your sights are really locked on Blindy, then I guess I can nudge her in the _right _direction. Man. Generosity spills outta my ass."

Yusuke gently lowered his hand on Akane's head.

XxX

(With Akane)

Akane felt uncomfortable.

A pain she couldn't explain ate at the very fibre of her being.

She ran, but she could not catch up. Her little legs began to ache as she struggled to reach his level, as if longing for his acknowledgment of her being a martial artist capable of walking alongside him; one not just there to slow him down or get shamefully kidnapped.

"Ranma!"

In the abyss of a wide bright pinkish-dimension, Akane's eyes peered desperately at the back of a figure with black hair so long it was tied in a pigtail and reached his high back which was covered by his red sleeveless Chinese top.

"Please don't go! Don't leave me Ran-!"

"Quit whining!" A distinctive and similar masculine voice suddenly commanded with such authority, it made Akane gasp, most likely in sudden shock of him being here.

"Urameshi-san?" Akane drawled out in an uncertain manner.

Yusuke blurred in front of her with a harsh expression on his face like he was scolding a small child.

"You wanna have your fairy tale life with your prince charming, don't ya?" Yusuke asked belligerently, causing Akane to blink before rubbing her eyes as if making sure the hallucination presented before her was real and not a figure of her imagination… in a sense at least.

"Of course I do!" Akane snapped and then crossed her arms over her chest furiously, "What's it to you anyway? I'm sure you're having _fun _with Ranma-idiot!"

Yusuke just shrugged his shoulders. Girl-Ranma would be the most likely choice for a girl he would consider convincing Keiko to have a threesome with, since he enjoyed her personality, and she was hot.

A teenager can dream.

Yusuke's angry look softened to show Akane a look of understanding compassion, "Look. It won't be long until a pig dude comes along and snatches your heart. I wager cupid's arrows on that," Akane blinked at the gentleness in Yusuke's voice. The brash young man was showing a kindness Akane figured a rude, cocky boy like him would be incapable of presenting.

But unfortunately for Yusuke, Akane couldn't see any boy capturing her heart knowing what most were like.

"And what do you know, huh? Boys are icky and gloss, every last one of them! That includes that idiot, Ranma-idiot!" Akane thundered, tears clouding her vision, "Why does every boy have to be so perverted? Huh? Is it too much to ask to find one boy, just _one_, that's kind and considerate to girls? Ones not like _you _and Ranma-idiot!"

"I hate boys!" Akane sobbed.

Yusuke gave the crying girl a look that betrayed none of his thoughts, "Not all dudes are like me, Blindy."

Akane spun her head in the direction of Yusuke's impassive gaze with mask of angrier covering her face, "Don't lie to me! All boys are like that! They don't care how us girls feel! All they care for is themselves!" Akane stomped her foot on the ground, "I had to fight hordes of icky boys every day at school before daddy got me engaged to Ranma-idiot to keep them away from me!"

"Is that why you feel obligated to go through with this sham of a marriage to sate your old man's selfish dream?" Yusuke asked.

"Don't speak about my daddy like that!" Akane screeched commandingly, Yusuke just kissing his teeth and offering the girl a shrug of his shoulders.

"Yet you can't find any holes to poke in my statement, can ya, Blindy?" Yusuke questioned and Akane fumed at his riddles.

"What do you mean by that Urameshi-san? Daddy wants Ranma-idiot and I to unite his and Uncle Saotome's schools!" Akane raged, "It's obvious! Ugh! You're just as stupid as Ranma-idiot!"

"What I mean is, what's your old man's reasoning huh?" Yusuke asked calmly, finally forcing Akane to adapt a pensive expression on her adorable features, complete with blinking eyes, "Is there a golden prize at the end of the tunnel for completing the engagement journey of you and Red?"

"Well, no, daddy didn't tell me why he wanted me to go through with marrying Ranma-idiot, just that we had to unite his and Uncle Saotome's schools," Akane answered meekly, falling into an uncomfortable territory, so she immediately got angry, "But that should be enough Urameshi-san! If daddy says we have to marry, then Ranma-idiot should make the effort of being nice and polite to me! And most of all he should eat my COOKING!"

"So 'cause big daddy says so, it's okay for you to sacrifice your happiness to settle down with someone who grinds your gears?" Yusuke asked with his steely gaze surveying the confused one on Akane Tendo's face.

"I don't get what you mean, Urameshi-san," Akane was very uncomfortable now, and when she got uncomfortable she usually got really mad as if losing her temper was a stress relief to her, "If Ranma-idiot would stop being a jerk, then we could make it work between us! I'm sure of it!"

Yusuke shook his head with a sympathetic look on his face, "Naw. You're missing the ball entirely here. You can't just hand out your heart like a hotcake. It doesn't work like that. You should naturally be able to fall into the one who you'll dig without a shadow of a doubt, like the big-guy upstairs wrote a script and it had you two tying the knot."

Akane blinked at Yusuke's explanation of what made a couple of natural love, "W-what do you mean Urameshi-san? I don't understand!" Akane was beginning to become frustrated now, "Argh! You don't understand!"

"How so?"

"You're asking the impossible!" Akane screeched, "How can I ever fall for a boy without trying! It's stupid! It's stupid! It's stupid! Boys are icky, gross, and stupid perverts! Ranma-idiot's a perfect example of that!"

"Heh. So you're all boys are like street bums to you."

"Damn straight! Icky!"

"I take it Red's rivals are included on that list of pervs, huh?"

"Yes!"

"Even Pig-boy's among that list of Blindy's, eh?"

"Pig-boy?" Akane repeated, realization slowly drowning on her features, "You mean Ryoga-kun?"

"Now you're getting it."

A look of shame appeared on Akane's face, Yusuke grinning as he watched the girl rub her arm as if she was trying to warm herself up, "W-Well R-Ryoga-k-kun's different."

"Care to spill the beans on why Ryo's so special?"

"Because he is!"

"'Cause he's a-."

"Not a pervert!" Akane filled in the blanks of Yusuke's line righteously, "Ryoga-kun's kind, considerate, humble… everything's Ranma-idiot's not! He's not a jerk or a pervert either!" Akane huffed, panting heavily, as if she had just run a marathon, "There! Are you happy now, Urameshi-san!?"

Yusuke grinned, calmly lifting up his hand and placing it on Akane's cheek, causing the youngest Tendo to flinch as Yusuke wiped her tear away, "I think you're getting now, Blindy," Yusuke said with mirth dancing in his eyes, but upon seeing the confusion on Akane's face, he elaborated for her to fully comprehend, "Friendship's the very first few steps to building a relationship."

Akane gasped at the implications, "No! You've got it all wrong, Urameshi-san! Ryoga-kun and I are just fri-"

"Sleep tight Blindy; don't let the bedbugs bite."

XxX

(Tendo Dojo - Akane's bedroom - With Akane)

XxX

"Urameshi-san!"

Akane jolted upright with a pleading look on her face.

Taking in a few deep, staggering breaths, Akane surveyed her surroundings, "I'm in my room," Akane murmured, "Was all that just a dream?" Akane quickly touched her cheek when she felt dry moist on her cheek, "My tear," Akane gasped, "It's gone, which means all of that was real!"

Yusuke's words mulled around in Akane's head as she tried to make sense at what he had meant.

"What could have Urameshi-san possibly meant by friendship comes before a relationship?" Akane wondered dumbly, throwing herself back onto her bed and knocking her head against the pillow, "Oh! This is so hard to understand! Why couldn't Urameshi-san have been more straightforward? Ugh!" Akane grunted as she frowned up at the ceiling of her room.

She was sure she wasn't going to be getting any sleep, any time soon.

Stupid Urameshi and his perverted thoughts!

XxX

(With Yusuke)

"Legs see where Kasumi left your gear, Ryo," Yusuke said, holding up a sleeping P-chan by his ear. A smirk came to his face when he thought about the discussion he had with Akane, who knew the girl could sleep talk, "Heh. You're gonna be kissing the ground I walk on if Blindy ever comes around to her senses, Ryo."

Akane needed to grow up first and foremost. That was a must.

There was no way Akane could live her life thinking boys were icky. That was how seven year old little girls thought of boys before hormones kicked in.

Good lord what in the flipping heck was Soun doing?

How had he not spoken with his daughter of such things, especially given the fact he was planning to marry her off to some guy so she could carry on his school. Yusuke would bet his life that Akane didn't even know Ranma before Soun sprung the engagement on her. That man was selfish with a capital S.

At the very least Soun could give Akane some time to mature mentally before trying to push her into marriage. Marriage was no simple thing. A 'couple' who hadn't even gotten out of first base should be in no position to settle down. Fuck period.

Yusuke believed a relationship between Akane and Ranma would be highly destructive.

"…Well if nuthin' else the old geezers dogged efforts of shoving their dream down Blindy's and Red's throats will keep them away from each other, thus paving the way for Ryo to stealthily sneak in there and scoop Blindy off of her feet," Yusuke rationalized with a sigh escaping his lips, making his way to the last place he saw Ryoga's belongings.

The living room.

And there he saw them neatly folded up on the dinner table; Ryoga's heavy umbrella and backpack still where he left them.

"That house lady musta done this," Yusuke rationalized, picking up Ryoga's backpack and hooking it on his back before sheathing Ryoga's umbrella in the straps of his backpack. He then picked up Ryoga's clothes and made his way to the kitchen to get some hot water to switch Ryoga back into his human form.

Once he made it in the kitchen, Yusuke found the same golden kettle Ranma had used to turn into a guy on the stove underneath a low fire, stream flowing upwards from the kettle to let anyone know it was hot.

"Heh. Goes without saying Ranma becomes a girl often. She must secretly like having a rack and a tight ass that nice," Yusuke smirked, treading over to the kettle and picking it up, but not before sensing someone from around the corner.

"Your stealth skills ain't up to par," Yusuke murmured darkly, a cowardly wince echoing throughout the air, "Come show yourself to the rest of the audience old man."

A gulp was heard from around the corner, Yusuke patiently waiting for Soun to show himself, as a pair of reddened-skinned hands gripped the edges of the wall. Soun's head then nervously poked itself from around the corner, the man carefully walking into the kitchen.

"Y-You've r-returned l-lad," Soun greeted, "Welcome back."

Yusuke turned around, giving Soun a dark glare that him yelp, "Geez ain't you smart boyo. You solved the mystery of the noises coming from somewhere in your house; whoopee doo, where's your partner Scooby Doo?" Soun winced, but held his tongue as Yusuke spread out Ryoga's shirt, umbrella, backpack, and trousers and put him inside of his shirt.

Soun shifted uncomfortably in place, looking around with clear fear evident in his eyes, "S-So, l-lad. D-Did y-you and R-Ranma-kun have a nice walk."

"As good as a walk can be before being ambushed by a cuckoo mocked samurai," Yusuke mumbled blandly, Soun nodding his head stiffly while Yusuke dumped the hot water on Ryoga's head, thus transforming him into his human form.

Ryoga nimbly fitted into his clothes once again.

"Y-Yes, I was aware of two high Ki signatures clashing a few hours ago," Soun stated, trying to calm his nerves down by engaging in small talk with Yusuke, but Yusuke only hummed with a cold expression on his face, which made Soun (grew) more anxious, "S-So, l-lad, I take it you came down to drop off Ranma-kun." Yusuke could see the desperation in Soun's eyes.

Soun swallowed and fidgeted under Yusuke's ice cold gaze, "Red would be here, why now?"

"B-Because t-the l-lad l-lives h-here," Soun answered shakily. His fears were being confirmed.

"How you figure kitty-cat?" Yusuke asked mockingly.

Soun could only let out a pitiful wince at once again being called out for his cowardice.

"Does Red cough up the dosh to live here?" Soun shook his head, opening his mouth to say how Ranma was still technically a youth who lived with his father, but the rude-boy wasn't having any of it.

"As if Lard-ass makes ends-meat for him and Red," Yusuke grumbled, and Soun closed his mouth, "Eh. I don't hear a correction so I must be right. 50 points to me," Soun didn't answer, but his despairing features hardening into frustration spoke volumes, "The defence rests, bitch!"

"Y-Yusuke-kun…" Soun murmured in a begging tone.

A growl was heard from around the corner before Genma came running into the kitchen with an angry look on his features, "Where's my boy?"

"Saotome, no!" Soun pleaded.

"Hey, Lard-ass, I didn't know you were awake. It must be neat freeloading off of your 'quote-on-quote' shogi buddy, eh," Yusuke remarked with a patronizing grin on his features.

"We have an agreement if you must know, boy!" Genma defended himself righteously.

"Oh. I didn't know pawning off your kid counts as payment Lard-ass," Yusuke said, "Guess that must be a medieval thing eh old man."

"Oh ye of so little faith. If you understood our art you wouldn't be keeping m'boy from marrying Akane," Genma told Yusuke with a strict look on his face, "It's a martial artist's duty to see to it that his style is carried on through centuries and centuries. You won't be putting a stop to that boy!"

"Really, now?" Yusuke role-played in a way to frustrate Genma, but the bespectacled man nodded his head anyway, "Come then. School me if you're so knowledgeable, Lard-ass."

"I refuse to fall for your tricks, boy! Now, you're gonna tell me where m'boy is so I can find him, drag him back, and make him apologize to Akane for not eating her cooking! That boy can't be choosy about women!"

Soun nodded in agreement with Genma, "Yes, that'd be for the best, lad."

Yusuke's malevolent chuckle forced cold sweat to run down Genma's and Soun's cheeks, "So you're laying down the law, eh Lard-ass," Genma nodded slowly, trying to strengthen his resolve in the face of the powerhouse-boy who effortlessly outclassed Happosai, "You and what army, Lard-ass?"

To show Genma and Soun a glimpse of his true power, Yusuke merely spiked his reiki as if he was flexing his muscles, cracking the surrounding walls, the ceiling, and forcing the stove, the microwave, the water heater, and the fridge to explode as if small bombs were set on them.

"M-My, m-my, m-my, m-my, m-my," Soun stammered in horror, pointing a shaky finger at the ruined kitchen, "S-Saotome, the lad destroyed my kitchen simply by powering up his Ki."

Genma just stood gawking at Yusuke's destructive power, fear sinking into his eyes.

Yusuke gave Genma a deadly, deathly stare, "You were sayin sumthin 'bout me having to tell ya where Red was? Sorry, but it musta slipped my noggin. Why don't you rewind that last sentence of yours, Lard-ass?"

Genma just bolted past Yusuke and switched on the cold water, splashing himself, and forcing his body to go all fuzzy, as if it were an hallucination getting cancelled out. The fuzziness disappeared, and a black and white panda was left in Genma's place with a panicking expression on its face.

Panda-Genma held up a sign, *Hello someone else's son's friend!*

"Oh Saotome…" Soun sighed.

"Looks like you're not as dumb as I thought you were, Lard-ass," Yusuke mumbled while Ryoga began to rise from his slumber.

"Ah. Now where am I?" Ryoga wondered to himself, surveying his surroundings and widening his eyes at the sight of the kitchen. It looked as if a war had just happened, "Huh? What happened in here?"

"Meh. Just a debate to decide rather or not Red should be outta the race for Blindy's heart. Guess who won?" Yusuke asked, making Soun whimper in a pitiful manner for the nickname Yusuke gave to his lovely daughter, the youngest Tendo.

A confused expression marked Ryoga's features, "Red? Blindy? Who are they?"

"Chick-Ranma and Akane," Yusuke answered.

"Oh." Ryoga replied before raging furiously, "Saotome that damn ingrate! He made Akane-chan cry! I swear I'll beat the crap out of him for hurting Akane-chan! Saotome prepare to die!"

Yusuke looked at Soun with a self-satisfied smile on his face, "Say hello to your lil son-in-law, Scary-cat," Ryoga blushed and Soun flinched.

Soun couldn't deny the fact that Ryoga had treated Akane much better than Ranma had throughout the months Ranma and Genma had been freeloading off of him.

But even still, Ryoga wasn't a Saotome and thus wouldn't be able to merge Soun's school with Saotome's one.

"But-." Soun wailed.

"But nuthin'. Drill this into your thick head pansy-boy, it's not who Blindy loves, but who digs her, you feel me?" Ryoga's blush deepened while Soun just whimpered.

"Come. Legs roll on outta here, Ryo," Yusuke suggested, treading towards the backdoor of the Tendo Dojo.

Ryoga nodded, hastily picking up his backpack and umbrella, "What about Akane-chan?"

"Tomorrow," Soun and Genma winced mentally, but held their tongues.

"Okay," Ryoga accepted, turning towards Soun and offering the man a bow, "Thanks for the hospitality Soun-san. I'll be sure to come by tomorrow. Later."

"Y-Yes, l-lad, It's been a rather… intriguing day with your company," Soun worded very carefully, making Ryoga nod.

Ryoga quickly caught up to Yusuke, "I'm ready, Yusuke-sensei! Where're we off to now?"

"The mountains are always a swell place to start tortu-. I mean training sessions," Yusuke corrected himself with a grin on his face while he and Ryoga walked out into the Tendo Dojo back garden, Ryoga taking notice to the chunk of grass missing, "Yep, time to whip you up into shape."

For a minute there it sounded like Yusuke was going to say torture sessions.

Nah. He didn't mean that.

After all this was the man who was going to raise Ryoga's power level to the point he could beat Ranma Saotome.

"Yes, Yusuke-sensei! I will complete your training and destroy Saotome! Then I'll be able to protect Akane-chan with my own two hands!" Ryoga roared resolutely.

"That's the spirit!" Yusuke complimented while they reached the wall separating the back garden from the open world. Having already lost any semblance of respect he had for Soun Tendo, Yusuke merely finger-poked a huge hole in the wall that made Soun and Genma wince, "Oh. Fair warning though, Red's undergoing her own intensive training with Granny."

"Granny?" Ryoga wondered as he and Yusuke ambled out of the Tendo Dojo garden.

"Yep. So I'll be tripling your workout schedule to counteract that. I hope for your sake you'll come out all guns blazing, 'cause I don't intend to be lax with ya, Ryo, so don't be chickening out half-way, you hear?" Ryoga nodded his head in understanding, a look of fierce determination on his face.

He had waited too long for the day where he could earn the strength to defeat Ranma Saotome.

"Of course! I'll go to any length to teach that damn ingrate Saotome a lesson for treating Akane-chan like dirt! Just watch me grow stronger, Yusuke-sensei!"

"Yeah. I'm counting on ya, Ryo."

XxX

(Tendo Dojo – Kitchen – With Soun and Genma)

"Well, Saotome, what do you suggest we do now?" Soun asked, sighing depressively at the heavy damage of his kitchen.

Genma couldn't even turn himself back into a human because the hot water heater was broken and he'd hastily transformed himself into a panda to avoid a Yusuke-scolding.

*We get Ranma-boy back here to marry Akane!*

"Well-spoken Saotome old friend, but how do we get Ranma-kun back here? Yusuke-kun's made it perfectly clear he won't allow Ranma-kun to marry my lovely Akane-chan, and we already know how powerful he is. He defeated the master without even using his true power. That alone suggests it won't be so simple to get Yusuke-kun to agree with our engagement of Ranma-kun and Akane-chan."

An pensive expression masked Genma's features, and he soon flipped his sign around to reveal more words, *We wait until the boy's sleeping, take him to the mountains, threw him in a cave, and barricade it shut like we did with the master. That'll take care of the boy real good.*

"Yes. Well you forget Yusuke-kun isn't like the master. He's far more powerful than the master, Saotome. You saw the lad's reigan today, with that kind of power he possesses I hardly believe a few boulders will hold him back," Soun said calmly, disappointment appearing on Genma's face before tears ran down his eyes.

*Waa! Our dream of uniting our schools could be over. Waa!* Genma's new sign read.

"I know Saotome!" Soun joined his friend in a good long cry.

How could their dream end like this?

XxX

(Elsewhere Around Nerima – Location Unknown)

XxX

"Hm. This heavy yoki (demon energy) feels identical to _him. _Could it be that he had finally found his ancestral son after so long," A diminutive withered up tiny old lady with long white hair reaching to her feet murmured calmly to herself.

The tiny woman wore a tribal-dress to represent the fierce tribe of Amazonian-women and had a long brown stick next to her.

Koron, alias Cologne, aka 'the old ghoul, a nickname given to her by the hotshot rude-boy Ranma Saotome, had lived a very long life. She had been around for over three hundred years, and witnessed and experienced many things/trials that could scar a man for life.

She had outlived the era where demons reigned supreme and met _him. _He was _the _most powerful demon to ever grace the earth with his presence alone. He had the blood of the celestial race coursing through his veins, the strongest race in history, the Mazoku race.

Even today the very thought of the supreme demon of immense power sent shivers of lust up Cologne's spine.

"Oh. If I were two hundred years younger," She chuckled wryly to herself, standing on the table of her well-known Cat-café she'd quickly established upon arriving in Japan to see to it that her Shampoo had taken out girl-Ranma.

Circumstances had obviously changed with the reveal that Ranma was a guy, a very strong healthy male with the potential to reach his level.

Only his closest friend Enki was rumoured to be his equal.

Enki. His very name brought up fond memories. Cologne had received a letter from Enki a year ago informing her that he reigned supreme over the Makai, for three years at least.

All thanks to the Mazoku's kid suggesting some outrageous idea of a tournament getting hosted every three years to decide a ruler for the Makai.

It was such a fool's idea it was brilliant.

The kid of Raizen had definitely piqued Cologne's interest.

"So brother-in-law's son has come down here to play, eh." Cologne said to herself with a crinkled grin on her features. She had been almost frozen in a state of shock upon feeling Raizen's son's overwhelming power the moment he stepped onto Nerima, to the point she just stayed on this table even when Shampoo asked her if she was going to go to bed.

It felt so similar to Raizen's, Cologne had almost thought it was Raizen himself, but quickly remembered Raizen was far more powerful than his boy.

But even still, the boy's power completely dwarfed hers.

But this was obvious. He was a demon, one of immense S-class power. He was in a class easily capable of destroying the entire earth.

Did he know what kind of power he possessed?

"Hehe. Perhaps I might have to reconsider sending my Shampoo after brother-in-law's sunny-boy instead of son-in-law."

After all the kind of babies he and Shampoo could produce could make the tribe of Amazonian women a most formidable one.


	6. A Fair Warning from the Devil

**Disclaimer: I don't own YuYu Hakusho or Ranma 1/2**

**Legs, Yusuke's and Ranma's way of saying, Let's.**

**It's over. It's done. Minato's been punk'd and Madara'll become perfect. It's done. The world is Madara's.**

* * *

**Chapter 6**

**A Fair Warning from the Devil**

Kasumi was doing her usual routine: keeping the Tendo Dojo tidy with a pleasant smile on her face.

Even as the rain poured down and dark clouds hang over Nerima it didn't damper the woman's spirits one bit as she used a broom to sweep up the dust around the Tendo Dojo. She had almost completed her chore and was just gathering the last bit of dust around the entrance of the Tendo Dojo.

"I wonder how Ranma's doing," Kasumi prodded.

It had been a long month since the half boy/girl had been offered a way out of the Tendo Dojo by Yusuke and accepted it.

Kasumi had to admit it had been quite different without Ranma around. Akane had been less prone to anger without Ranma to agitate her. For the first two weeks, Akane did lose her temper with Yusuke when the boy came around with Ryoga, and would always retreat to her room since Yusuke blanked her out like she was beneath him.

Yusuke always sent Ryoga after her to comfort her, and by the time Yusuke and Ryoga would leave, Akane was always sad Ryoga couldn't stay longer.

"Well I'm off to school!" Nabiki said, rushing down the stairs in her school uniform, launching herself at the coat rack and grabbing her rain coat off of the door.

"Leaving so soon?" Kasumi asked, pausing her cleaning of the Tendo Dojo to look at her sister while Nabiki quickly slipped on her shoes and opened up the door.

"I'm trying to avoid Akane's lunch," Nabiki said with a smile, scurrying out of the door while simultaneously putting on her rain coat.

"Oh Nabiki-imouto…"

XxX

(With Akane)

XxX

The youngest Tendo was walking to school while sighing tiredly, "That girl. I made an extra lunch for her. She didn't have to run off and leave." Akane complained to herself.

After a month without Ranma around, Akane inexplicably felt a lot more relaxed. Granted she still got a tad frustrated when Uncle Saotome and daddy tried to make up excuses for not eating her cooking, but she had never really lost her temper.

She wondered why.

Did this have something to do with her dream involving Urameshi-san?

Akane had tried to block said question from her mind when the realization drowned on her that Urameshi-san had taken Ranma away, worse still was that jerk had willingly agreed to go along with Urameshi-san.

Grrr!

How could he be so thoughtless?

They were all worried sick about him-!

Well Nabiki slowed very little emotion to Ranma's departure from the Tendo Dojo.

Uncle Saotome and Soun seemed more concerned with finding Ranma so they could get him and Akane hooked as soon as possible than the boy's actual well-being. And Kasumi… she was as optimistic as ever and had a feeling Ranma would come back far stronger than ever, since Urameshi-san insisted Ranma was off training hard.

Yusuke occasionally popped down to the Tendo Dojo with Ryoga, something Akane was grateful for since she cried a lot on Ryoga's shoulder. If Yusuke ever took Ryoga away Akane wouldn't know what she would do.

Kuno was surprisingly absent too. No one had seen the mocked samurai since the night a city block around downtown was found dismantled.

Akane would bet her beloved P-chan those jerks Ranma-idiot and Urameshi-san had something to about that. That was possibly why Urameshi had gone and taken Ranma-idiot into hiding since the boy wasn't nearly as powerful as him!

Daisuke and Hiroshi, two guys Ranma occasionally associated with in school, had inquired the whereabouts of Ranma, but after Akane had told them she more or less didn't give a damn they had just shrugged and continued on in their merry way.

In fact the only people who really shown sorrow for Ranma's disappearance were Shampoo, Ukyo, and Kodachi Kuno. And Kodachi was an odd one. She seemed more worried where Ranma was than her own brother, Tatewaki Kuno.

And they were only worried about him because they wanted to jump Ranma's bones.

"Argh! That pervert! I don't know why I even bother!" Akane screeched thunderously, powering up her angry aura, "Argh! I bet him and Urameshi-san both plotted a elaboration plan to cause a ruckus and steal my P-chan away!"

Akane grumped, stomping off towards school in a sour manner. Much of her time spent carrying her school bag and wearing her school uniform and rain coat was used to think how much of a jerk Ranma was, taking off like that without even informing it anyone where he was going.

He'd be receiving the cold shoulder if he ever returned to Nerima.

"Hey, Akane-chan!" One of Akane's closest female friends in Sayuri greeted her brightly, standing next to the Furinkan high school's gate with her and Akane's other best friend in a girl named Yuki.

Akane immediately felt her anger dissolve and her sweet persona resurface looking at her friends, "Hello, Sayuri-chan, hi Yuki-chan, thanks for waiting for me."

"That's okay, Akane-chan," Yuki said with a bright smile on her features, the smile vanishing to be replaced by a look of uncertainty, "You must be going through a rough time with your fiancé Ranma AWOL."

Akane stiffened, straightening her disdain of the pigtailed martial artist, "Ranma? Who's he? Never heard of him!" Akane shifted her head to the sky with a look of annoyance on her face, then chose to lead the way into the school building, but her friends held back a second.

"Poor thing," Sayuri whispered sympathetically.

"They must have gotten into another fight," Yuki guessed sagely, "Gosh. It's been a month now; you think they're really finished."

"That wouldn't be smart of Ranma, but then again he isn't exactly ranked anywhere near the top of the exam boards. Most of the guys in this school would give their right arms to be with Akane-chan," Sayuri said, earning herself a nod of agreement from Yuki.

"C'mon Yuki-chan, Sayuri-chan, we're going to be late for class if we don't make a move on it," Akane insisted, Yuki and Sayuri both nodding their heads and moving to catch up with Akane, "What were you two talking about?"

"Oh, not a lot, just how many guys would die to go out with you, Akane-chan," Sayuri explained with a smile on her face and Akane snorted.

"All the boys are a bunch of icky perverts!" Akane stated.

"I'm half surprised they don't challenge you to a fight like they used to before Ranma showed up," Yuki prodded.

"I'm not. Upperclassman Kuno isn't around to bark out their orders," Akane said.

"I wonder where Kuno-senpai is anyway," Yuki wondered, "He hasn't been in school since that day everyone was trying to beat up Ranma," Hearing confirmation from her friend that Ranma had disappeared around the same time as Kuno, her mind could only come to one conclusion.

"I could less where those two perverts are anyway!" Akane screeched angrily, putting apologetic looks on her girlfriends' faces.

They sure felt sorry for when Ranma would get back.

XxX

(Elsewhere)

"Look that boy."

"He's… not normal."

"How can he do that?"

"Is… he a monster?"

"Mommy, mommy, look at the strong boy carrying the big rock!"

"Don't look at him sweetie!"

"Oh dearest Akane-chan, although I have left you to venture around Toyohashi City, I hope to bring you back something nice to prove my undying devotion to you. Then maybe, just maybe, you'll see me for more than just a good friend who has an extra shoulder for you to cry on."

Ryoga mused with a determined expression on his face.

Luckily, the massive boulder he was carrying shielded him from the rain and kept him from turning into P-chan.

Ryoga's new clothes were _specifically _designed for him. He wore a 50ibs yellow long sleeve top underneath an 80ibs green sleeveless Gi top, 20ibs green trousers, and 20ibs sandals on his feet. The only non-weighted clothes Ryoga wore were a yellow obi tied around his wrist and his trademark bandanna wrapped around his forehead.

His master hadn't been going easy on him this past month.

"Any money the hairs on the back of my neck are gonna turn grey before I even reach forty," Yusuke muttered, sighing, and watching his student on top of a tall building after the boy had somehow lost sight of him and journeyed off on his own.

In fact he had been doing that consistently ever since Yusuke started training him.

Luckily, Yusuke had gotten himself a little apartment around Nerima, so if Ryoga ever got lost training, Yusuke would go to his pad, chill out for a bit, then go retrieve the lost-boy by sensing out his reiki-signature.

Ryoga was too dedicated to his training to pay attention where he was going sometimes.

"Ryo weren't kiddin' when he said his sense of direction was all outta whack. Shit. I got an avalanche of work fixing him," Yusuke said, holding up his knee to his chest while the other hung over the edge of the building.

Still Ryo had potential though. Yusuke couldn't deny that. The kid was an absolute beast when it came to tanking blows with enough power packed in them to eradicate buildings into pieces, and he was fully devoted to getting stronger, a concept Yusuke was quite foreign with.

The kinks Ryo had to improve on were keeping his temper in check. It was pretty easy to get the boy riled up if someone insulted Akane. Plus his speed was rather poor for B-class standards.

Yusuke cracked a smile at the feel of a distinctive reiki-signature nearing his location, "Seems Granny's issued Recess for Red."

"Yu-chan!" Ranma's feminine voice echoed throughout the air.

Yusuke looked down the building and saw the redhead standing there with her hands cupping her mouth, "Pull up a seat, Red." Yusuke ushered her up with a flick of his hand, making Ranma shrug as she disappeared from sight to the gawks of amazement of those who seen her on the ground a second before reappearing on the building next to Yusuke, looking perky.

"Someone's in a good mood," Yusuke commented, "Sup, the old hag let you out to play?"

"Good to see you too, buddy," Ranma said with a grin on her face, her hands neatly folded behind her back.

Yusuke shook his head out of amusement, "Yeah, for real," He looked at the redhead and scanned her appearance. She was wearing a soaking white vest-top, which clung to her body, along with her navy blue sweat pants, two blue _wristbands _on her _wrists, _and Chinese shoes on her feet, "Did you enjoy your field trip to boot camp, Red?"

"Yep!" Ranma chirped, "No school, no crazy ass fiancées to have to deal with, 'cept for Ucchan, she's cool, and no repeatedly gettin' my ass booted from the Tendo Dojo by Mr Tendo! Not a lot more a guy coulda asked for, this past month's been like a vacation!"

"Huh?" Yusuke said dumbly, scratching the side of his cheek.

Ranma surveyed her friend's confused look pensively, "What's nibbin' at ya, Yu-chan?"

"Ahhhh, it's 'nuthin," Yusuke brushed it off with a wave of his hand, "I just had this crazy thought you woulda been bitching like I did when I first started gettin' whipped up into shape by Granny."

"Granny's a real salve driver, alright," Ranma nodded her head in understanding, "But I soldered through her torture sessions as easy as A. B. C! I'm still kicking after burning through Pop's military workout schedule after all! And that says something, 'cause Pops weren't no momma when it came to puttin' me through my paces."

"Yeah," Yusuke uttered sourly, a dark gleam shadowing his eyes at the mention of Genma.

"'Sides, at least this time I have someone to chat with. Yukina-chan's so sweet. That Kuwabara-guy's one lucky guy to have her," Ranma said excitedly. Her enthusiasm of meeting sane people was enough to keep her oblivious to Yusuke's malevolent look.

No poetic mocked samurais, no poorly emulated Hawaiian principles, no witch-styled girl with a creepy giggle, no clingy Chinese amazon girl with bad grammar, and no tomboys with a short fuse; just good, likable people with a healthy mentality Ranma had found in Genkai and Yukina in Yusuke's hometown.

It felt refreshing to her to meet people like that.

"Yeah. Goofball had a seven leaf clover in his back pocket when he scored Yukina," Yusuke muttered jokingly, giving Ranma a jesting look, which quickly turned into a leering one, "Maybe I could get lucky with you tonight."

"Shove it!" Ranma commanded and crossed her arms over her chest, "I already got enough of that from Pu-chan! I couldn't stay in my girl-form for two secs without him checking me out like a piece of meat!"

"Oh, well, y'know, sometimes the lil guy likes showering love to my homes," Yusuke explained sheepishly, grinding his cheek with his index finger.

"Don't gimme that crap from your ass, Yu-chan! Ya 'know why P-chan has his sights honed on me like I'm the best thing since sliced bread!" Ranma shouted, causing Yusuke to laugh nervously, and Ranma saw her chance to tease Yusuke, and she seized it expertly.

"It's 'cause ya got the hots for my girl-form," Ranma teased, lifting up her arm above her head to give Yusuke a sexy pose, "But then again, who could blame ya for gettin' butterflies in your stomach when you're eyeballing a body like this."

"Ah, ah, ah, mouth young lady," Yusuke chided her in good spirits.

"I ain't that much younger than ya," Ranma rebuked with a roll of her eyes.

"The difference in our strength-levels says otherwise."

Ranma bristled, "Oh! So I ain't worth your time huh? Was that why you wouldn't duke me in our sparring match last month, 'cause you were afraid one mimsy flippin' wallop would be enough to break me like a friggy old lady!?"

"C'mon don't be like that-."

"Forget it!" Ranma crossed her arms and turned away from Yusuke, "You can take your weak-ass attempt of patronizing me, dust it off, turn it sideways, and stick it straight up your candy ass!" Ranma stomped her foot angrily on the ground, "And to think I actually missed you!"

Yusuke had a confused expression on his face, "It's only been one month."

"So!" Ranma turned around to glare at Yusuke, "Whaddya expect to feel when you meet a stand-up, sane guy after like what? Friggin years of pounding loonies straight from the mental house huh?"

Yusuke understood now, the girl was really starved of any and all friends, "Look-," Yusuke started to say in an apologetic manner, but Ranma turned away from him with a pout, "I said some things straight outta my ass. Don't let your shoulder create the ice age."

Ranma flinched slightly when Yusuke clasped her shoulder, but otherwise didn't say anything.

"Tell you what; I'll make it up to ya."

"How so?"

Yusuke contemplated that for a few seconds.

"You can crash at my pad while you're here and I'll cook you up some grub," Yusuke offered and Ranma thought the offer over for a few seconds.

"Throw in some ice cream and you have yourself a deal."

Yusuke removed his hand from Ranma's shoulder and held his hands up in the air with a relieved grin on his features, "Done."

"Awesome!" Ranma grinned widely, hooking her arm around Yusuke's, "Since I'm a girl anyway, we might as well make like bananas and split to the Ice cream parlour!"

"Heh," Yusuke let out humourlessly, "Didn't know you had to be of a feminine sex to quality for eatin' ice cream."

"Of course! Guys can't eat ice cream! It's not manly!"

"Your old man's really done a number on you, huh?"

"Kick your butt into gear and follow me to sugary deliciousness!"

"Lead the way, Red."

With that Yusuke and Ranma hopped off of the building and landed on the ground with the grace of a highly skilled figure skater, earning several gawks from the bystanders who had watched the superhuman duo leap off of a building and not even dent the ground as if it were easy.

Ranma didn't get the chance to lead her friend to the ice cream parlour, because she sensed an all-too familiar Ki-signature rapidly approaching her and Yusuke, as if the person wanted to ambush them. The narrowing of Ranma's eyes came around about the time heavy footsteps echoed throughout the air and splashed the soaked ground.

"Red?"

"Got it," Ranma assured coolly, casually back-fisting panda-Genma in his face and sending him shooting away in a twirling motion of wind. The panda's body hit the ground and shattered it on his way to slamming into a wall.

Ranma turned around, "Have a nice flight, Pops?"

Genma shot up to his feet furiously, holding up in a sign, *Boy! You're coming home this instant to apologize to Akane! No buts!*

"No way, Pops!" Ranma shouted in resistance.

*Don't speak to your father like that, boy! You'll marry Akane immediately!*

"Oooo! I'm shaking," Ranma said mockingly, feigning a shiver, "Sup, Pops, are Pig-boy and tomboy gettin' too cosy for yours and Mr Tendo's liking?"

*That's not the point, boy! Tendo and I have a dream to unite our schools! You won't be ruining that!* Genma flipped his sign around, *Now say goodbye to **him **and bring yourself home now!*

"To a place where you don't even pay the rent Pops? Real smooth old man," Ranma snorted.

*I'm warning you to come home and apologize to Akane now!*

"Make me," Ranma dared him.

*You've asked for it, boy,* Genma chucked his sign away and charged Ranma down.

"You got this covered?" Yusuke asked, observing Genma charging down girl-Ranma to bring her home.

"Yeah! Pops is as good as toast," Ranma assured, receiving a nod from Yusuke as he ghosted away from Ranma to give the redhead some room to fight her pops.

Genma's claw came hurtling towards Ranma, but the speedy redhead danced around his claw, lowering herself to the ground and taking out Genma's legs.

Genma fell to the ground with a, "Grr!"

"Heh. Ain't no convenient stop signs to assist your glutton ass this time, huh Pops," Ranma said with a cocky grin spreading across her face.

Genma wobbled to his feet and held up a sign, *Lucky shot!* Genma then tried to use that sign to whack Ranma down to the ground as if he were playing a game of mole-in-the-hole, but Ranma elegantly hand-sprung out of the way.

Not giving her father anytime to recover from his missed strike, the redhead did a front-flip forward before leaping in the air and twisting her body around like a corkscrew, throwing her leg out to nail Genma in his head.

Genma was able to not only block the kick, but also trap Ranma's leg in his panda's claw, digging his nails into her leg, then shook her about.

"Kyaaa!" Ranma was starting to get dizzy, and then she felt like she was on an out-of-control plane heading on a one-way collision course to the ground. Genma was looking to smash her pretty head off of the concentre floor, hoping the hit would knock some sense into his son.

Luckily, Ranma thought with expert precision, slamming her hands on the ground and softening her impact.

With the feeling of Genma's claw still trapping her leg, Ranma barrel-rolled forward, stabbing her free leg into Genma's chest and forcing the man to cough out saliva. This weakened Genma's grip on her leg enough so she could push the panda away from her.

"Just give it up, old man! It's ain't gonna work out between me and tomboy," Ranma told Genma, watching him stagger to his feet and hold up a sign.

*Yes it will.* Genma flipped his sign around, *I'll make sure of that!*

Ranma shook her head, "Keep dreamin' Pops," Ranma dashed towards Genma, "In the meantime I'll be in reality taking your ass to the cleaners and leaving it out to dry!" Genma threw a claw at Ranma, but the redhead ghosted speedily to the side, shocking Genma of her speed.

*Such speed!* Genma's sign read while Ranma fell back in the place of whence she came from so fast an afterimage was left in her place, and another illusion of Ranma was created when Ranma appeared at her Pop's other side in the blink of an eye.

Then that Ranma turned ghostly the moment Ranma zipped behind her Pops, who had a look of horror on his face witnessing Ranma's speed.

Genma was starting to get dizzy, while Yusuke smirked at the multiple Ranmas, "Granny done you justice, Red. Lard-ass there looks like he's 'bout to gain spinning eyes balls with the way you're dancing around him. Heh. Looks like I gotta up the intensity of Ryo's training if he wants to keep up with you."

Genma felt the air leave his lungs, Ranma's fist now buried inside of his abdomen. Trying to grab Ranma's arm, Genma was thrown off balance when Ranma retracted her arm.

Looking to press on her advantage, the redhead tucked her foot into Genma's stomach, using it as leverage to flip up, and knock Genma in his chin, forcing his head to shoot up. Once landing on her feet, Ranma ducked to the ground and spun her leg around, knocking Genma's feet off of the ground and making the panda fall to the ground.

But before Genma could complete his descent to the ground, he felt a city-block-eradicating blow delivered to his back so hard it sent him flying upwards to the sky; Ranma's leg held up in a graceful fashion.

Ranma's confidence was increasing by the second now, so much so a golden aura of immense confident Ki shrouded her body as if she had inexplicably mastered the legendary sacred aura, either that or she had become a Super Saiyan.

Ranma let a smirk grace her features, as she ran to a building and used her speed to sprint up it, pushing herself off it in a back flip, and honing her leg on Genma's tummy, "All aboard on the express way, location: the ground!" Ranma quipped, upside down kicking Genma with so much force blood spewed out of his mouth and he was sent rocketing to the ground.

The shockwave was enough to open up a huge crater in the ground and shatter a couple of buildings into pieces, making the watching civilians wince from the demonstration of Ranma's destructive power.

Ranma landed skilfully on her feet, "Done already, Pops? Heh. That could barely be classified as a warm up," The bystanders swallowed hard in a nervous fashion.

That redhead girl wasn't even using her true power!?

Just how powerful was she?

A battered and bloodied Genma struggled to his feet, weakly holding up a sign, *You asked for this, boy! Just remember it's for your own good!* The civilians' eyes widened as a blue power surfaced from Genma's body, like Ranma's golden one, and coated his body like armour.

"Looks like he's cookin' up something big, Red," Yusuke stated, "Best be ready to throw it back in his face."

"Yeah," Ranma mumbled, keeping her guard up while her father's eyes lost its pupils and the sclera turned light blue, "Pops is takin' off the kid-gloves now," A smirk crossed Ranma's features, "Bring it old man! I'm ready for whatever trick you'll pull from your hat of nonsense!"

Genma held up a sign, *Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts Final Attack-.* Ranma would come to regret those words, as Genma spun around in a complete 360 spin, chucking a small white feline he pulled from out of nowhere at his son-turned-daughter, much to Ranma's horror.

But Genma only arrogantly flipped his sign around, *Hadoken!*

"Huh? What's a fuzz ball gonna do to Re-?"

"Kyaaaaaa!" Yusuke's musings was cut short by the terrified shriek coming from Ranma. The cat landed on Ranma's head who had tears in her eyes, "Get it off of me! Get it off of me!"

Yusuke stared dumbfounded at his scared friend, "Red's got a problem with fuzz balls," Yusuke looked at Genma to see the Panda had tears pouring down his eyes.

Genma whipped out another sign from somewhere, *It's for your own good, boy! Now, this'll teach you to never again try and abandon the Tendo Dojo, and your engagement to Akane, you foolish boy!* Knowing the consequences of what would occur if he allowed the cat to stay settled on Ranma's head, Genma rushed Ranma in the hopes of blackening her lights out and taking her back to the Tendo Dojo.

Yusuke stared at the struggling Ranma for a moment as if to see if she could counter Genma's attack. It was clear the only goal Ranma had in her mind was managing to get the cat off of her head and curling up in a ball.

Yusuke shrugged, "This is the part where I tag myself in, I suppose," After Yusuke vanished from sight, relief washed over Ranma, but the redhead felt the strength in her knees drain from the fear of a cat trying to eat her brain out so she fell to her knees.

Genma growled painfully; the feeling of his wrist getting clamped by the jaws of a pit-bull brought his final attack on Ranma to a sudden halt.

Genma's eyes locked on fearfully to the dark ones of Yusuke. He could see the struggling cat hanging in Yusuke's hand.

"Final attack, huh?" Yusuke said in a dark, amused wryly tone of voice.

*Hello someone else's son's friend!* Genma's sign read as he had a panicked expression on his face.

Yusuke smirked in a cocky fashion at the frightened expression on Genma's features, "Consider this your first and last warning, Lard-ass. Pull that shit on Red again, and you won't live to see thanksgiving, much less Christmas! For your sake, I hope you get my drift, 'cause I don't hand out second chances like Halloween candy!"

Genma roared in agony; the obnoxious sound of cracking bones made the crowd 'Ohhh' before Yusuke casually flicked his wrist, sending Genma on a one-way trip to the clouds.

Genma pulled one last sign from out of nowhere with his good hand before going back to nursing his broken wrist, *Looks like I'm blasting off again!* Then he was no more but a mere sparkle in the sky.

Yusuke coolly spat saliva out of his mouth and onto the floor, "See ya next fall Lard-ass," Yusuke said, walking over to Ranma who flinched reflexively, "You okay, Re-?"

"Keep it away from me!" Ranma shouted, pointing a trembling finger at the cat in Yusuke's grip.

Yusuke blinked and looked at the struggling cat, "You heard the lady," Yusuke bent down and dropped the cat to the ground, making sure it was facing away from Ranma, "Scram!"

The cat obeyed and made itself scarce.

Ranma let out a sigh of relief, "I can't believe that old man would pull that shit on me!"

"That was a douche move to pull," Yusuke mumbled, "I'll admit."

"I know, right?!" Ranma ranted, growling exasperatedly, "Damn him! Damn that cheatin' panda! I won't forgive him for this!"

Yusuke dropped his impassive look to offer the angry girl a look of sympathy, "Yeah. He ain't much better than my own deadbeat, no show old man," Ranma looked up at Yusuke in a curious manner, but the insanely powerful boy only shook his head and offered her his hand, "C'mon, legs bounce to the ice cream parlour. We can dig up dirt on our old mans there. Whaddya say, Red?"

That put a smile on Ranma's face as she took Yusuke's hand and was helped up to feet.

"Sounds like a plan Yu-chan!" Ranma agreed and Yusuke nodded his head as the two made their way to the ice cream parlour.

XxX

(Furinkan High School)

"Kay, kay, me bring in a new teacher! Yeah!" The mocked Hawaiian principle of Furinkan High School and father of the insane sibling Kodachi and Tatewaki crazily shouted to the class featuring the likes of Akane and Ukyo.

"A new teacher, huh? I wonder who that could be," Hiroshi wondered.

"Maybe it'll be a new babe or something," Daisuke drooled, "Maybe we can get some attention now that Ranma ain't here," For now at least. Daisuke still hoped Ranma would come back to school one day, despite being jealous of him.

"Shush! Keep your voice down dude! Do you want Akane to hear you?" Hiroshi warned.

"Oh, right," Daisuke said sheepishly, turning his head to see Akane with an irritated expression on her face, "My bad Akane."

"Don't mind me. By all means go back to your private conversation," Akane snapped sourly, making Daisuke and Hiroshi wince while a smirk graced Ukyo's face.

'Looks like trouble in paradise for Ranchan and Akane. Not long now until their entire engagement falls to pieces, then I'll swoop in and take Ranchan for myself. Besides, I'm the cute fiancé anyway,' Ukyo mused. Her long brown hair fell to her lower back and was tied in a ponytail by a white hair-scrunchy and she had dark eyes.

Unlike the other girls in the classroom Ukyo Kuonji did not wear the girl's school uniform, but opted to wear the boy's one instead. That consisted of a medium blue blazer jacket matched by medium blue trousers, and shoes on her feet.

Being an okonomiyaki chief, and a damn good one at that Ukyo carried all the essentials used for making what she made best on her back as if they were swords.

'Ah. I could just imagine what a life would be like married to Ranchan,' Ukyo sighed mentally, slipping into a blissful daydream of her and Ranma walking alongside a beach. Because of this, she failed to notice the door open and her fellow classmates floored by a mass amount of malevolence which entered the room.

'W-What i-is t-this feeling? T-This aura, It… feels like… like someone wants to kill us all!' Akane mused, observing the frightened expressions on her friends' faces. Even non martial artist could feel this overwhelming amount of killing intent bearing down on their shoulders as if it were spiritual pressure.

Dull, almost lifeless, sounds echoed throughout the air; a tall, serious looking man stepping into the classroom. He was bald, but had a scar engraved on his left cheek, a brown moustache and a matching goatee. His sunglasses-clad eyes scanned the room and sent chills up everyone's spines, only Ukyo was an exception to this since she was stuck in dreamland.

He wore a long black trench coat stretching down to the floor, over a black blazer jacket which was over a white dress shirt complete with a red tie; black trousers, posh black shoes, and one black glove covering his right hand.

"Kay, kay, keiki, keiki, de new teacher is S-san!" Principle Kuno announced grandly.

"Leave." S-san commanded in a cold tone of voice and principle Kuno gave him his signature crazy grin before running stupidly out of the classroom.

An uncomfortable silence descended upon the classroom with no one willing to speak to their new teacher with the amount of malevolence he was unleashing upon them.

"Listen. I don't like to speak twice. Do not make me repeat myself," S-san warned and the students gave him meek nods in response. S-san walked over to the chalk board and picked up the chalk, "The name's Mr Suraisā. For short you may call me Mr S," Mr S told his students as he wrote his full name on the chalk board followed by the contraction form of it.

Mr S slammed down the chalk with enough force that it made the students flinch.

"Now then, listen up, you maggots. I'm about to lay down some ground rules. Firstly: no talking in my class, if you break this rule, you will suffer the consequences. Secondly, no chewing in my class, if I by any chance catch any of you chewing, there will be consequences to suffer," By this point Mr S was gripping his desk table so hard he chipped off a piece of it to make his point.

"Thirdly, you will wear the correct uniform, by any chance I find someone not wearing the proper uniform, punishment will be served. Lastly, and most important rule, all of you punks will listen when I speak. If you have the audacity to disobey this rule then let's just say.-"

The force Mr S applied to the table was enough to snap it half, causing the students to gulp hard.

"…-You will be broken." Mr S stated with a sadistic smirk crossing his features.

Ukyo just looked up at Mr S, her eyes narrowing, 'Something tells me I won't get along with this jackass.'

The other students were scared shitless of Mr S and his overwhelming sense of self-righteousness, and sadly, it seemed Mr S had the power to back it up.

"Y-You can't do that!" Akane spoke up bravely, causing Yuki and Sayuri to gain looks of worry on their faces for their friend's fate.

"Akane-chan…" Sayuri whispered pleadingly.

Akane blanched when Mr S' stoic form turned to her; it was too difficult to read the madman with those sunglasses covering his eyes, 'Beautiful.' Mr S smirked mentally, 'I could use her to lure that freak to me. Hahaha. It'll be like killing two birds with one stone.'

The boss sent him here to kill the freaks who had abused their Jusenkyo curses. The scums. It was the company's job to see to it that law and order must be upheld no matter the cost. They simply couldn't allow a boy using his curse for evil.

"I'm sorry, but did I hear you opposing me, little girl? You don't know me, so I'll be willing to overlook this… misunderstanding with a simple apology." Mr S baited.

Akane shivered. She didn't miss the subtle warning in Mr S' voice, but she refused to back down in the face of Mr S and his brutality, as she was a martial artist, "I-It's not right! Teachers shouldn't be abusing their students!"

Her fellow classmates pitied and feared for her safely when Mr S started taking slow, but purposeful footsteps towards her, "Oh. Is that right little girl?" Mr S asked sadistically, "From what I heard from principle Kuno, students have been assaulting him since the day he arrived here. I see no reason why I shouldn't do the same. I'm technically a god among ants in this school after all."

Akane scowled reflexively; Mr S' arrogance reminded her of a certain pigtailed martial artist, but as she looked up at the sick-twisted teacher, she felt her anger and courageousness slip away staring up at the emotionless face of Mr S, and feeling his malevolent aura bearing down on her shoulders.

Just how could a human have no emotion on one's face?

"I-I'm a m-martial a-artist!" Akane insisted, trying her best to muster up some courage to face down Mr S, "Y-You don't scare me!"

Mr S licked his lips, a gleam of purple glinted in his left eye, "You believe that little girl?" Akane gave the man an uncharacteristic shy nod of her head.

Akane didn't know what happened next but she felt like a car was suddenly chucked in her face. The youngest Tendo cried out in pain as she was launched away from her desk and to the wall where she crashed into it and cracked it.

"Akane-chan!" Sayuri and Yuki cried out simultaneously, worry and fear in their voices. They didn't even see Mr S' hand move, much less backhand Akane away as if she was no more but a mere pesky bee on his shoulder.

"Oh no, he's crazy! He'll kill us all!" Hiroshi trembled.

Ukyo scowled, shooting up to her feet angrily, "You jackass!"

Mr S merely waved her off and walked over to Akane, "You see kids, this'll happen if you get the boldness to fight against me," Mr S stated, staring down at the injured Akane with an expression that betrayed none of his thoughts.

"Akane-chan," Yuki whined quietly, on the verge of tears seeing her friend overpowered by the powerful Mr S.

Mr S grabbed a handful of Akane's hair, pulling the girl in the air as if she weighed nothing, "Kyaaaaa!" Akane shrieked painfully.

"No! Please let Akane-chan go! I'm begging you!" Sayuri begged and the others watched with horror on their faces at Mr S' merciless punishment of Akane.

What had their madman of principle done, hiring someone this powerful, ruthless, and stony-hearted to be their new teacher?

Ukyo left her seat and unsheathed her spatula, flying over to Mr S with the intent to beat him into submission, "Let her go you jackass!" Ukyo's spatula collided heavily with the back of Mr S, Ukyo smirking until she realized she hadn't even made the sadistic man budge despite hitting him with all her strength.

Mr S turned his head over his shoulder to look at her, "You are quite the formidable warrior, there is no denying your strength. If I were a normal human that blow would've annihilated me."

'Normal human?' Ukyo mused with a gawk on her features, 'He is saying he isn't human? Just what kind of monster did our jackass of a principle hire?' Ukyo contemplated before feeling a devastating boulder-crashing blow connect with her cheek, sending her spiralling out of control.

Luckily, all those years of practicing her own style of martial arts left Ukyo very much flexible and adaptable. So it went without saying the girl was able to gain control over her trajectory by slamming her hands on the ground and bringing herself to a stop.

Mr S was impressed.

'She is a strong one that girl. The boss shall be pleased with my discovery.' After all the company only had knowledge on the freaks who visited Jusenkyo and gotten themselves cursed.

Only recently had the company decided to do some research on those closest to the ones cursed so they could use them against them - Hence Mr S' brutal treatment of Akane.

Oh yes, Mr Hibiki would be furious once he found out his precious Akane-chan had been mercilessly attacked.

He'd be coming for Mr S' head. There was no doubt about it.

Mr S let go of Akane's hair, allowing the youngest Tendo to land on her knees with her head lowered, taking in deep breaths. Mr S merely moved away from her, giving Yuki and Sayuri the opportunity to run to Akane's side and place their hands on her shoulders comfortingly.

"He will come for me." Mr S murmured.

The students all looked at him in confusion, but Mr S simply looked at the window, and pictured an semblance of a little piglet with a yellow bandana wrapped around its neck glaring hatefully at him.

"Yes, he'll indeed come for me. I can't wait."

Mr S would soon come to realize just how bad of decision he had made by making an enemy out of the powerful Hagane no Shōnen (Boy of Steel).

XxX

Ryoga gasped and he instantly brought his sprinting across 'Toyohashi City' to an abrupt halt.

Ryoga didn't know why, but he felt a sudden wave of danger hit him. He felt his heart clenching as a semblance of his dear Akane-chan appeared in his mind.

Ryoga dropped the soaking wet boulder onto the ground and looked up at the sky, picturing Akane-chan's beautiful face looking down at him with… melancholy in her eyes.

It couldn't be. Ryoga vowed to himself he would protect Akane-chan no matter what. There was no way she could be sad. If she was, then that would mean someone had hurt her, and if someone was brave enough to hurt her Ryoga would make sure to murder the culprit where he stood.

Nobody messed with Akane. Nobody!

When one messed with Akane then that one messed with Ryoga!

"Dear Akane-chan, what has happened to you?"


	7. A Pillar of Light Explodes In The Sky!

**Disclaimer: I don't own YuYu Hakusho or Ranma 1/2.**

**Okay, I'm back. And I'm on the mend from the open heart surgery I had down in Coventry. It was not fucking pleasant and this past month has been hell for me. I hate fucking hospitals. I hate hospital food. That shit's nasty. It's so plain it's sickening. Ack. Hospital food is no better than prison food.  
**

* * *

**Chapter 7**

**A Pillar of Light Explodes In The Sky!**

"No fucking way!"

"Yes way!"

"I don't believe it!"

"You better believe it!"

"Your old man actually dressed you as a tuna-fish sausage and left you to a tribe of hungry cats?"

"That's the gist of it," Ranma shrugged, stuffing a mouthful of ice cream in her mouth that Yusuke had bought her, while said boy laid flat on the double seats of the ice parlour with his arms folded behind his head in a relaxed fashion.

Yusuke pursued his lips with a frown, "Lard-ass needs to get his head sorted out if he thinks throwing a lil squirt to a ton of crazed hungry fuzzy-balls will make him master a style," Yusuke shifted his arms for good measure and sighed, "Dumbest freaking thing I've ever heard."

Ranma dived into her strawberry-flavoured ice cream once again, "Right. I can't even go near a fuzz-butt without going into flashback-mode."

"Who can blame ya?" Yusuke asked with a deadpan look on his face, "With the shit you went through I'm half surprised you didn't ditch your old man, and go fugitive."

Ranma paused her devouring of the sugary treat in front of her to address Yusuke with a small tremble in her hand, "L-l-leave P—Pops? I-I-I d-dunno if I could do that. He's been in my life for like forever, y'know. How would I manage without him?"

Yusuke resisted the urge to roll his brown eyes. Genma had really done a number on Ranma's mentality during the years he had been training his son-turned-daughter, making her believe she needed him at all costs. That was probably all due to his twisted plan to mooch off of Ranma forever once he went through with marrying Akane, thus uniting the Saotome and Tendo schools!

"Meh. You'd soldier on, champ. After all you done swell without Lard-ass this past month eh," Yusuke said soothingly.

"Yeah! But that's only 'cause I had my mind set on surviving Granny's training, which was kinda lax in comparison to Pop's. Plus-," A red tinge appeared on Ranma's cheeks, "I had a pal with an ass just waitin' to be kicked once I got back here y'know."

Yusuke simply took out a box of cigarettes, put one cigarette in between his lips, put his cigarette box away, and then brought his lighter from his pocket which he used to light his cigarette, "Oh really? Who was that? Musta be one stable guy to keep you from goin' crazy, Red."

"You're a dummy."

"Huh?"

Yusuke peered at the miffed expression on Ranma's face and put the pieces together.

"Oh! You mean me!" Yusuke said with a startle, then let out a sheepish chuckle, "Haha. My bad, Red."

"Dummy."

"Only when you're around."

"What?"

"Yeah. You know they say beauty is the sun which blinds the dumb."

Yusuke easily lifted up his hand; a martial arts shoe clad foot now in his grip.

"Do you get a fix outta spraying cheese from your ass?!"

"Meh. Only if it's gonna get me some touchy-touchy," Yusuke grinned, letting his hand run up Ranma's smooth leg. There was no hair or spots on the redhead's leg; it felt really divine to be feeling up Ranma's leg, "Ace."

Ranma flinched, "You perv!" She wrestled her leg away from Yusuke and pouted in annoyance at the chuckling teenage boy, momentarily crossing her arms to turn away from Yusuke before continuing to eat her ice cream without saying another word to the rude-boy across from her.

It was only after a while did Ranma look back at Yusuke and with a look of uncertainty, making the cheeky boy give the redhead a probing look.

"Uhm. Yu-chan, I don't think you can sm-." Ranma began in an uncharacteristic timid tone of voice, her free index finger slowly, albeit shakily raising to point at the cancer-stick in Yusuke's hand.

Gosh Ranma felt as nervous as the day her father took her to the Tendo Dojo. Requesting someone of such high power to quit doing something he enjoyed in a place which appeared to be prohibit that seemed to be the cause of Ranma's meekness.

Ranma didn't quite finish her sentence, but it was enough to catch Yusuke's attention; the half demon sitting up and trapping the red haired girl in an intense steely gaze.

'Boy, just lookin' into Yu-chan's eyes is almost enough to hypnotize a gal,' Ranma mused, staring at Yusuke as if seeing him for the first time. Just how could Yusuke do that, mesmerize her with those battle-hardened brown orbs of his alone? There was no doubt in Ranma's mind no girl could keep Yusuke whipped. If anything, he kept them in line.

Yusuke could tame Akane if he wanted to, Ranma would bet her life on it.

"Yes, dear, what's eating ya?" Ranma's legs almost turned to jelly.

That confidence of Yu-chan. Just how could he speak with such conviction despite openly addressing Ranma in such an affection manner?

Taking a quick glance at herself, Ranma pouted at her assets. Maybe that was why Yusuke's tone was so endearing, yet confident to Ranma in public for all to hear, because Ranma was in girl-form.

Yusuke had made it conspicuously clear that he found Ranma's girl form attractive, and unlike Kuno and his sister, who both foolishly believed boy-Ranma and girl-Ranma weren't the same person, Yusuke knew the boy-and-girl-Ranma were Ranma and still dug girl-Ranma nonetheless.

Throwing Pu in the mix just added a whole new set of butterflies in Ranma's stomach since she got knowledge of how deep Yusuke's feelings ran for her.

But being anti-social due to the number of years of being isolated of social interaction from her own pops, Ranma wasn't ready to tackle that subject yet.

"Yo, you in there, Red?"

Wonderful. Ranma spent so long musing of Yusuke and his confidence she forgot to confirm the fact he shouldn't really be smoking in the ice parlour.

How will she do that?

Yusuke wasn't Akane by any means. Akane was an ant next to Yusuke and so was Ranma. If he got mad and decided to take out his frustrations on Ranma, he could seriously hurt Ranma as much as that pained Ranma to admit; Yusuke's strength and power massively outclassed hers.

"W-Well you shouldna be puffin' in here," Ranma clarified quietly, causing Yusuke to blink his eyes in confusion before he looked around the Ice parlour. He noticed the uncomfortable postures of the other customers and the cashier that had served Ranma her ice cream.

How he understood.

Yusuke smiled, using his thumb to put out his cigarette to the relief of those around them, "Ah, I see now, shoulda just said so, dear," Ranma could feel the strength in her knees drain away. Damn him. Damn him and his overwhelming amount of confidence.

"Woulda saved a lot of time in the bud, ya know?" Yusuke asked, but the small nod of Ranma's head left him unconvinced she was okay, so he reached his right hand over to hers, and laid it atop of hers in a comforting manner, much to Ranma's shock as she gasped, "You okay, Red?"

"I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I," Ranma stammered, not sure what to say at this point. She had never been a speaker, more of an actionist, someone who lets their fists do the talking.

Ranma had been speechless after first meeting Kuno when the kendo-warrior made his dramatic introduction and gaped like a fish to match his, fully grateful to Kuno when he attacked him, thus putting Ranma back into his comfort zone.

Fighting.

It was all Genma had been good for, teaching his child how to fight.

But how to hold up a decent conversation with the opposite sex was not on Genma's list of things to teach Ranma.

End result – Ranma and Akane could potentially make drama out of a _really simple _situation that could be resolved with something as simple as a few words.

'Damn ya! Damn ya, Yu-chan! Damn ya to hell!' Ranma stressed mentally, but on the outside she was as shy as a cat, 'Just how can he be like that in front of an… audience?! Damn…'

"Red?" Yusuke tried again in a soft tone, slightly tightening the hold he had on Ranma's free hand.

"A-Ah, u-uhm, it's nuthin Yu-chan!" Ranma said hastily, pulling her hand away from Yusuke who coolly folded his arms over his chest, "I-I just had a question to ask you is all."

"Fire away, Red," Yusuke accepted.

Ranma took a deep breath, "Do you find it easy to be a guy, Yu-chan?"

Confusion drowned on Yusuke's features, "Say what?"

"I said… do you-."

"Yeah, I hear ya, honey, just stallin is all," Yusuke admitted with a hand raised up in frustration and Ranma fidgeted in place, "Oh yippy, I guess Lard-ass' constant pressure of you being a man among men finally got to ya, huh?" Ranma just got shrugged and waited patiently for Yusuke's answer.

"Well for me personally it's always been a breeze to be a guy, even when I was fourteen. I don't believe there was a day when I was a squirt when I didn't think I was all a grown up of masculinity," Yusuke answered truthfully, a clattering sound rang out through the air, making Yusuke look to see that Ranma had let go of her spoon and allowed it to hit the edge of her empty ice cream cup.

"Figures," Ranma mumbled, "So it's just me, eh?"

"What is?" Yusuke asked.

Ranma shook her head, "Forget it." Ranma stood up and grabbed her empty ice cream cup, "Forget I said anything. Okay?"

"Fuck no," Yusuke stood up and ensnared Ranma's free wrist in a tight grip, which made Ranma grit her teeth in exasperation because she knew she couldn't break it, "You've gotta let whatever's on your chest off, otherwise it'll just build up until you're ready to erupt like a volcano."

Ranma looked at Yusuke with surprise written all over her face. Nobody had ever cared to listen to what she wanted to say. Her own pops seemed content for her to go along with whatever scheme he had cooking up for them without her thinking her life over.

"Red?"

"Sorry," Ranma excused herself, "It's just that no one around here really lets me open my trap, and actually pays attention to what I have to say."

"I'm all ears," Yusuke said, "Lay it on me."

Ranma nodded slowly, taking in another deep breath, "I guess what I meant to get off of my chest is bein' a girl requires no expectation from pops, y'know."

Ranma looked at Yusuke to see if the half demon understood, but Yusuke only pursued his lips and rolled his free wrist in a clueless manner.

"Y'know, being all macho, marrying a tomboy, and having a no-bullshit attitude; the works," Ranma explained.

"Oh. I think I got my ticket now," Yusuke grumbled, shrugging, "So what? Don't you like being a fake badass?"

"Shaddup!" Ranma commanded and Yusuke zipped his lips shut, "It's not that I don't like being all macho, and slamming my foot up _most _guys' asses, it's just that as a gal it's so much more simple cracking jokes, smiling, and being cheerful," Ranma said, hanging her head with a forlorn air around her, "Almost like, like, like, like-."

"Like the world ain't on your shoulders."

"Exactly."

"So what point are you trying to make here, Red, that you prefer to roll gal?" Yusuke asked.

"Dunno," Ranma confessed, "But it does feel like I'm flying on cloud nine when I'm a gal. I can even get shit for free when I'm a gal," From the impressed look on Yusuke's features, Ranma couldn't resist going for the kill, "Here I'll show you."

Yusuke loosened his grip on Ranma's arm and watched the girl saunter over to the counter where the guy was waiting to serve a customer. Ranma's posture became rather kittenish and the guy became flustered with a bright red blush and a smile on his face before he took Ranma's cup away from her.

The man gave Ranma a bigger cup with a mixture of banana and strawberry ice cream with a cherry on top, three scoops of strawberry and three of banana.

He then waved her off with a dreamy smile on his face.

"Ha. You made him your bitch!" Yusuke laughed while a victorious Ranma sat down with her new ice cream and drove into it right away.

"Works like a charm every time," Ranma said contently.

"I can see why that happens," Yusuke deadpanned, eyeing the guy who served Ranma free ice cream with a hardened look, "I bet I can get free ice cream too."

Ranma looked up at Yusuke, "Be my guest."

"Righto," Yusuke said coolly, stabbing his hands into his pockets and walking over to the starstruck man.

"I wonder how'll Yu-chan convince that lame-brain to give him free ice cream," Ranma pondered to herself as she shoved a mouthful of ice cream in her mouth. She gained a curious expression at the look of fear which appeared on the cashier's face as he held his hands up in a placating manner, "What going on over there?"

Looking at Yusuke, Ranma could tell his posture spoke of a threatening one before he was handed something from the till.

A cocky, snickering Yusuke came strolling back up to Ranma and sat down across from her.

"What'd you d-."

"Ah," Yusuke cut the redheaded girl off, "Wait for the fireworks to begin."

Ranma shrugged, "Whatever you say."

An alarm soon sounded out, followed by a red light which startled most of the customers in the ice parlour, all except one half demon. Ranma looked to see Yusuke with his arms folded behind his head and a cocky grin on his face.

She lipped the words, "This is your doing?" But he only gave her an innocent look before several employees rushed from the back room carrying a huge brown boat with a ton of ice cream on it over to Ranma and Yusuke.

They dropped the mini boat load of ice cream in front of a gawking Ranma who quickly lifted up her own one to avoid it getting squished, "Oh snap."

"Enjoy your ice cream," The same cashier who gave Ranma her free ice cream in the first place said quickly, reaching forward to take the one he gave to Ranma.

"Hey, I didn't say you could take that!" Yusuke said harshly, making the scared man retract his hand.

"Sorry!" He said and ran off along with his follow employees.

Ranma gaped at Yusuke, "How'd you-?"

Yusuke winked at Ranma, "That's for me to know, and you to find out."

xXx

(Later)

xXx

"Seriously, how'd you do that?" Ranma asked as she and Yusuke sauntered out of the ice cream parlour.

"My lips are sealed," Yusuke said, "Legs just say from now on whenever you go in there just don't expect to pay."

Ranma shook her head, "Friends with benefit."

Yusuke's grin turned lecherous, "Maybe we can make that lite-."

The sound of a bell ringing through the air cut off Yusuke.

"Aiyaa, Ranma!"

"Here we go again," Ranma groaned dryly, shutting her eyes as if preparing herself to take pain. In reality, she really was getting ready to tank pain. It happened every time she heard the sound of that bell followed by her name; a thunderous pain would come crashing down on her face.

Only this time it never came.

Opening her left eye a touch, Ranma sputtered in surprise at the sight of a bike wheel trapped in a tanned hand just above her face, "Yu-chan?" Ranma turned her head to see Yusuke with his arm stretched over and held above her head to keep the bike wheel from landing on her face.

"Aiyaa! What stupid boy doing?" Shampoo asked, surprised how this strange boy could keep her held up in the air as if her and her bike weighed nothing.

Shampoo had long blue hair which fell to her mid back, two buns styled on her head and kept that way by two hair ribbons, and two strands of her hair hung at her sides. She wore a pink Chinese-styled blouse matched by pink Chinese-styled pants, and Chinese-styled shoes on her feet.

It was clear she was out making a delivery run since she had a package neatly wrapped up in the basket on her bicycle.

"I could ask you the same question, lady," Yusuke responded darkly, "I was just making sure Ranma-chan's face weren't used as a ram. What the fuck was you doing?" Unknown to Yusuke, a bright blush appeared on Ranma's face.

Just how many more times was Yusuke going to keep her from harm?

Before Shampoo could answer, however, she felt her whole body begin to tremble. Her hands immediately gripped the pedals of her bike as if it would help keep her balance, "What you doing?" Shampoo asked Yusuke who was trying to shake her off of her bike.

He soon succeeded as Shampoo wobbled off of her bike and fell to the ground with a, "oaf!"

"That hurt!" Shampoo said, rubbing her backside. She then blinked and widened her eyes when she remembered the package she had in her basket, but as she looked up, she saw Yusuke digging into a steaming hot bowl of ramen with a confused Ranma standing by his side; Shampoo's bike nowhere to be seen.

"Aiyaa! That not for stupid strong boy! It customer meal! Give back!" Shampoo panicked, trying to grab the bowl off of Yusuke, but the cheeky boy merely dodged Shampoo by simply stepping to the side and leaving his leg out for Shampoo to trip over.

"Ouch!"

"This is the first I'm hearing about it," Yusuke quoted, stuffing more noodles in his mouth with the chopsticks he found inside of the package, "You should really put nametags on these things."

Shampoo glared at Yusuke and rubbed her backside before standing up, "You pay for that. Great grandmother be mad at Shampoo."

"Sorry," Yusuke said, sounding very unapologetic as he slurped up the last bit of ramen with a content grin on his face, "But I'm skint. But hey, since you seem to know Ranma, I figured you could cut a guy some slack, eh," Yusuke burped, "Ah. That hit the spot."

Shampoo pouted at Yusuke, then looked at girl-Ranma, wishing she had some hot water to dump on the redhead so she could get her sexy fiancé, "What Ranma to you?"

Yusuke blinked at the girl's messed up grammar, "Uhmmmm. A friend, I guess."

Ranma, seizing her chance to rid herself of another fiancé, hooked her arm around Yusuke's, and made her eyes glow in a sparkling radiance of cuteness, "Oh don't be so shy, Yu-chan!"

"I ain't," Yusuke deadpanned while Shampoo looked on in confusion.

"Ignore this one, Shamps," Ranma said to Shampoo, rubbing her head against Yusuke's arm to Shampoo's ever growing jealously, "It's just so darn hard to get him to open up and be all lovey-dovey to me out in the open y'know?"

"What?" Both Shampoo and Yusuke exclaimed, with Shampoo gawking.

"Well at least Yu-chan brought me ice cream and fed it to me like the gentleman he is," Ranma giggled, smirking internally at the horrified look on Shampoo's features, 'Sucker! This is too easy. Snap, I should get an award for all this acting!'

"Look lady, I know your game! And I ain't playing it! I've already got one nutter after my tail, I don't need another one!" Yusuke ranted.

"Oh really, you even won't help lil old me for a feel," Ranma said deviously, putting on her best seductive tone as she held Yusuke's arm in between her breasts.

"Fuck my life!"

Ranma giggled, "You see how well we get along, Shamps, almost like two peas in a pond. Wouldn't you say, sweetie-pie?"

"I dunno this lady," Yusuke said to an open-mouthed Shampoo.

"Nooooooooo!" Shampoo eventually lost it, "Aiyaa! No way Shampoo let stupid strong-boy take Ranma-airen, ruin all hard work!"

'Bingo,' Ranma smirked internally, watching Shampoo pull out a sword from out of nowhere.

"Now hold on lady, legs talk about this here," Yusuke tried none to gently, watching Shampoo close the distance between them at a very familiar level of speed, 'Well this won't be any fun. She can roll with Suzaku at best.' Yusuke mused, lifting up his arm; sparks flying between his arm and a metal blade as Shampoo smashed her sword against Yusuke's forearm.

"Aiyaa! How you do that?" Shampoo asked, pressing her sword against Yusuke's arm and gasping at the sight of no blood pouring from Yusuke's forearm despite the fact it just clashed with a sharpened blade a moment ago.

"Hmm. Jeez wiz I dunno, maybe 'cause I rose my arm up," The rude-boy answered and Shampoo growled.

"You no get smart with amazon warrior!" Shampoo declared resolutely, hopping back, but she ended up crashing into a solid brick wall, "Aiyaa. Stupid wall wasn't there a-." Shampoo gasped, having spun her head and found out the 'wall' she slammed into was really Yusuke, 'How he get behind Shampoo so quickly?'

Yusuke smirked at the awed expression on Shampoo's face, about to open his mouth to comment until…

"Shampoo, oh Shampoo!"

"Oh boy, now ducky's come out to play," Ranma quipped dryly, rolling her blue eyes.

A boy with long black hair reaching his mid back like Shampoo, and wearing a pair of thick glasses just above his eyes, ran through Yusuke as he ignorantly tried to hug the half demon but Yusuke was merely too fast for him, and he ended up running towards his 'one true love:' Shampoo.

"You stupid Mousse!" Shampoo chided, dropping kick the boy now known as Mousse back to Yusuke, who casually rebounded him back to Shampoo with a finger-poke, causing him to end up with his arms around Shampoo's neck, to Shampoo's dismay, "Aiyaa! Stupid Mousse ruin everything!"

Mousse blushed, sniffing Shampoo's hair, "Oh Shampoo, I'm so glad you finally decided to return my affection for you!"

"Hey, do I hear wedding bells, eh?" Yusuke taunted, Shampoo scowling at him.

"No, stupid, only have eyes for boy-Ranma!" Shampoo said.

"OOO. So you're lookin' to two-time your spouse already, eh? How dirty of you," Yusuke taunted gleefully, making Shampoo huff at him in frustration while confusion appeared on Mousse's face as he adjusted his glasses over his eyes and let go of Shampoo to turn around and get a better look at the voice he heard.

"Who are you?" Mousse asked.

"Red's partner," Yusuke deadpanned and pointed to girl-Ranma with his thumb, a confused Mousse tracking his thumb with his head.

"What?" Mousse gasped and then scowled, "How shameful! As if it wasn't enough for you to swoon my precious Shampoo, now you've gone and charmed a man! You're disgraceful Sao-." Mousse's words died in his throat; his sense of danger was screaming at him to run away, 'What? How'd he get in front of me so fast?'

"Your fight's with me!" Yusuke said seriously, a powerful glowing blue aura shrouding his body, an expression of amazement appearing on Ranma's, Shampoo's, and Mousse's faces.

"Shampoo not see anything like this," Shampoo confessed, a look of determination on her face, "But Shampoo amazon warrior. She no give up, let Indestructible-boy have Ranma to himself!" But before she could do anything, Yusuke simply disappeared, reappearing behind Mousse and Shampoo, spinning around and unleashing a devastating back chop to Shampoo's neck so hard she crashed into Mousse.

The two amazon warriors went tumbling away, before rolling to an unconscious heap next to a fountain.

"Whoa," Ranma said, impressed with how fast Yusuke knocked out both Shampoo and Mousse, more so Shampoo than Mousse since Shampoo was a girl and Mousse was a guy, meaning Ranma would've dealt with Mousse in little more than 10 seconds, but would've let herself been owned like a little bitch by Shampoo, "Someone has anger problems. Care to talk about them?"

"I think I'm all spent." Yusuke admitted.

"Along with the emergency supply," Ranma added and the two shared a joyous laugh.

It didn't last long as an uncomfortable silence fell upon the two, Ranma rubbing her arm and refusing to meet Yusuke's gaze while said boy just nonchalantly kept his hands in his pockets, idly stealing glances at the beautiful redhead girl and wondering what was on her mind.

Eventually the silence became too much for Ranma who looked at Yusuke and found the boy staring right back at her, "So…" Ranma began with clear uncertainty in her voice.

"Yeah." Yusuke waited patiently, his posture relaxed.

"How do you feel 'bout duking it out with Shamps?" Ranma asked.

"Whaddya mean?" Yusuke wondered in return.

Ranma became agitated, "Ugh! Y'know, 'bout fightin' a girl, dummy!"

"Oh. Is that what's bugging ya?" Yusuke said with a relieved breath.

Ranma was starting to get angry now, "What the hell do you mean is that's what's bugging me? You just mowed a girl down!"

Yusuke shrugged, "Yeah. So what?"

Ranma's jaw dropped, "So what?!"

"Quit being such a drama queen Red? Shampoo's a fighter, and the way I see it if a fighter challenges me then I'm gonna kick one's ass, regardless of rather he's a she or a he!"

Ranma was almost speechless, "B-But guys ain't meant to hit girls!"

"Oh yeah? How you figure?" Yusuke challenged with a deadpan look on his features.

"Cause girls are we-."

"I may I suggest you shut your trap and hold off on that info until you meet some real strong women," Yusuke suggested.

"Huh? Real strong women?" Ranma wondered with a confused look on her face.

Yusuke gave Ranma a hard look, one hard enough to make the girl flinch, "I dunno how Lard-ass has influenced your baby brain so badly, but I'm gonna laid on ya straight Red, there's gals who can go toe-to-toe with me every day, and have a good chance of whooping my ass."

Ranma was in debrief, "N-No w-way," Ranma shook her head, slowly taking a step back, "T-That's i-impossible."

Yusuke sped up to Ranma, grabbing the redhead by her throat with a furious expression on his face, "Ugh! What the hell is wrong with you, Red!? Has Fat-ass really fucked up your mentality so bad you can't even accept the fact there's women out there who can laid your ass out with both hands tied behind their backs, huh?!"

Ranma gritted her teeth, pushing her forehead against Yusuke's, "Well excuse me for having a chivalrous attitude, bub! I thought that was one positive thing I picked up for my damn self-training with my pops!"

"Stupid more like," Yusuke scoffed, making Ranma growl at him, "And whaddya do when Akane gets mad and leashes out at ya? Hmm. Lemme guess, stand there pleading for forgiveness like a little bitch, 'Akane, Akane'," Yusuke mocked, mimicking scared-Ranma's voice.

"You jerk!" Ranma raged, trying to pry Yusuke's hands from her throat but failed miserably, "And here I thought I actually found a friend in you!" Those words cut deep into Yusuke; deeper than any knife could; to the point where he found his hands loosening on Ranma's throat and his angry expression softening to show Ranma a look of remorse and regret.

"Look, Red, I didn-."

"Shove it!" Ranma seized her chance and bitch-slapped Yusuke's hands away from her throat, turning around and running away from Yusuke who made no attempt to stop her, "You've made yourself perfectly clear, douche!"

Yusuke slammed his hands on his hips as Ranma disappeared, "Well that coulda blown over better."

Okay, so perhaps Yusuke could've been more gentle with Ranma, after all he did know Ranma had a shoddy father who wouldn't think twice to force his son's/daughter's hand in marriage to a girl who'd the mentality of a seven year old girl.

But Yusuke really wanted his friend to see sense, that there was nothing wrong with fighting girls so long as they were warriors, and had a significant amount of reiki (spirit energy) to do battle against. Yusuke would never just fight anyone, and by anyone he meant people who didn't have a lick of reiki in them, boy or girl.

Yusuke feared for Ranma, he really did. Obviously fat-boy Genma had failed to inform his son/daughter it was alright to defend himself from girls, because Ranma was jst stupidly standing still and letting girls whale on him for no reason; just like today for example.

Ranma did nothing to warrant a bicycle wheel on his face from Shampoo, but she would've taken the blow anyway. For what Yusuke didn't know, and didn't want to know. Yusuke did not want Ranma to be any girl's punching bag.

Yusuke didn't know rather or not Ranma let herself be beaten on by females, but judging by her reaction Ranma was Akane's punching bag, something that completely miffed Yusuke out since he wasn't particularly fond of Akane and only put up with the youngest Tendo for Ryoga's sake.

No one should put their filthy hands on Ranma's skin. Just the thought of Ranma getting hurt was enough to send Yusuke over the edge, making him almost or just as angry as if Keiko herself had gotten hurt!

"Damn!" Yusuke snarled. He was beginning to get frustrated with himself now, as he didn't understand these feelings he was having for Ranma. They felt somehow similar to his ones for Keiko, but still different in a sense.

Why did Yusuke care if Ranma got hurt to such an extent? Why did he naturally prefer to Ranma as a girl instead of a boy? Yusuke knew Ranma was born a boy, but chose to block Ranma's guy side from his mind and concentrate solely on his girl-form, feeling part happy and part sad when Ranma confessed she found being a girl easier than being a guy.

Yusuke was happy because he liked thinking of Ranma as a girl and sad because Ranma was clearly having identity problems.

Ranma needed help.

"Me and my big flipping mouth. I gotta find her and apologize," Yusuke said.

"WHAT A HAUL! WHAT A HAUL!"

A dark look appeared on Yusuke's face.

"But first the garbage is need of removing."

XxX

(Elsewhere)

"Akane-chan!"

A badly injured Akane looked up from where she sat on a bed fit for patients in a small clinic at the sound of a distinctive squeaky voice to see her father burst through the door with tears in his eyes.

"Daddy," Akane murmured in an uncharacteristic timid tone of voice.

Akane's pride of a martial artist was in shatters knowing how injured she became just by receiving one bitch-slap in the face by the powerful Mr S, yet when he hit Ukyo, the girl was able to tank the blow with relative ease.

Being as arrogant as she was, the youngest Tendo spent most of the day trying to convince herself that Mr S had gone easy on Ukyo, but given her his hardest blow.

It failed miserably, because Mr S confirmed in a cold manner that the blows he gave the girls were of the same power, there was just a massive gulf between Ukyo's power, and Akane's.

And that really broke Akane since she knew Ranma's power was above all the martial artists who attended Furinkan High School. The rude boy/girl had proven so time and again with his victories over Kuno and Ukyo.

Akane had always considered herself Ranma's equal. After all Ranma had never defeated her before in battle and Ranma was smart enough to know when Akane got angry he had to stand still and let the youngest Tendo take out her frustrations on him.

But if Akane couldn't even compare to Ukyo, what chance did she have of comparing to Ranma?

Unless Mr S was lying, and he really did hold back a ton of his strength when he hit Ukyo.

Yes, that must be it. Akane wasn't that weak. She was a martial artist after all.

'I am just as strong as Ranma-idiot,' Akane mused arrogantly, a determined expression marking her face.

"Akane-dear," Soun cried, tears pouring down his eyes as he ran to his daughter's side and grabbed her hand, stroking her beautiful face. It broke the man's heart to see his pretty baby girl in such a condition. Saotome's son was meant to be there to protect her! Where was he!?

"I got here as soon as I could when I heard the news from Nabiki-dear," Soun continued. The aforementioned middle daughter nodded her head from where she stood near the wall with her arms coolly crossed over her chest; desperately trying to keep her cool with the hidden malevolence in the room.

"Really daddy, I'm fine," Akane insisted quietly, concern immediately coming to Soun's face as Akane winced and held her ribs, "I-It's n-nothing t-to worry about papa. Honest." Soun didn't look convinced and a bespectacled brown haired man tried to hide his emotions with a mask of professionalism as he stared at Akane and occasionally stole glances at the cause of young Akane's injury, fear evident in his eyes.

"Tell papa, Dr Tofu. Tell papa I'm fine," Akane pleaded, and the brown haired man now known as Dr Tofu, aka Akane's former crush, wanted to broke down into tears hearing the once fiery girl beg so demurely; with every second that passed Dr Tofu could feel his hatred for Mr Suraisa (Slicer) grow.

He only wished he'd the power to make the man leave, but Dr Tofu knew, for as skilful as he was in the martial arts, he was no match for the powerful Mr S, whose power level completely dwarfed his, to the point it felt like reiatsu was crushing Dr Tofu once Mr S walked in here harshly holding Akane on his shoulder.

Dr Tofu coughed into his hand, the attention now on him, "Ahm. Yes. I've given Akane here a scan. I fear her injuries are quite severe. She has three broken ribs, a swollen cheek, both of her legs are bruised severely, and her skull's rather sore." Dr Tofu said informatively, earning himself a cute half-hearted pout from Akane for telling her daddy all that.

"Oh Akane-dear!" Soun whimpered, falling to his knees, and burying his head on Akane's lap.

"Daddy, it's okay, I'm fine. Really," Akane insisted weakly, "Please don't cry, papa. I'll recover soon."

"Yes. Akane should recuperate in due time. Probably four or five months, give or take," Dr Tofu said.

Soun held up his head, sniffing, "Who could do such a thing to my lovely daughter?" Hesitance appeared on Akane's face and she shifted her head away from her papa, not wanting to tell him of the man who'd eradicated her and injured a huge majority of her bones with one simple backslap to her face.

"It was me." But unfortunately for Akane, Mr S had no such problems, which in return forced Akane to widen her eyes, and gasp in shock and fear, as if she had forgotten all about Mr S' presence.

Soun felt his blood run cold, as he slowly stood up, and turned around to face the voice, a little bit of anger appearing on his face, "Y-You did this to my lovely daughter, Akane-chan?"

Akane closed her eyes at the anger appearing in Mr S' eyes, "Don't make me repeat myself, worm."

Soun gritted his teeth, trying to keep his courage from leaving him in the face of such a scary man, "W-Why? W-Why would you do such a thing to my Akane-chan?"

"Because," Mr S reasoned partly.

"Because what lad?" Soun asked with a gulp.

"I can lure that Jusenkyo freak to me by attacking his precious 'Akane-chan'." Mr S explained, a smirk forming across his features, "You see? It's really quite simple when you think about it rationally."

Akane gasped, 'H-He must be talking about Ranma-idiot! B-But Ranma-idiot hasn't been in Nerima for a month now, we're not even together, we never have been!'

Quite freaky, Akane would admit she never had any feelings for the pigtailed martial artist, but she knew she'd to try, and force herself to like him because papa needed her to marry him to merge his school with Uncle Saotome's one.

Ranma couldn't do likewise and couldn't stop insulting her, or at least try, and taste her cooking.

Still Ranma and Akane had been forced to spend a lot of time together by their selfish parents, who inadvertently made Akane and Ranma develop a brotherly/sisterly rivalry relationship, so it went without saying Akane was missing her brother-sometimes-sister now that he/she no longer lived in the Tendo Dojo.

Tears poured down Soun's eyes, "So you attacked my dear Akane-chan to lure someone else here. How dare you! My Akane-chan didn't do anything to deserve such a punishment. You're a monster."

Mr S' smirk turned devilish, "Maybe you're right, but the question now is, what are you going to do about it, _daddy_?" Soun gulped, his legs turning to jelly, his heart beating a million a minute, and his skin turning cold. He wasn't expecting that. The man rattled his teeth together as Mr S focused his malevolence on him.

'Oh no, this isn't good. I fear Soun-san has little confidence to do battle against Suraisa-san!' Dr Tofu mused, a bead of sweat running down his face.

"Saotome! Saotome! Someone is here to see you!" Soun yelled out desperately, hoping his friend would quickly run in here to protect him.

Mr S smirked devilishly, while Akane and Dr Tofu both sighed.

Dr Tofu's fears of Mr S were momentarily forgotten once he heard that angelic voice speaking from outside.

"Oh my, Akane-imouto, father mentioned you were in the hospital. So I stopped by to drop you off some stuff," Big sister Kasumi's voice rang out from outside.

"Oh thank you, Kasumi-oneesama. You didn't have to, but I appreciate that," Akane said, smiling sheepishly as she saw Dr Tofu's glasses stream up and cover his eyes, his goofy persona in play as Kasumi-oneesama walked into the room, 'Honestly, why does Dr Tofu always have to act that way around Kasumi-oneesama?'

A look of determination appeared on Akane's face, 'I promise I'm going to help Dr Tofu get with Kasumi-oneesama.'

"K-Kasumi! What a pleasant surprise it is t-." But before Dr Tofu could start doing dumb stuff in a sad attempt to hide his childish crush on the eldest Tendo, Mr S appeared in front of him in a show of speed.

"I do not believe it is professional for a doctor to act in such a way while he is tending to his injured patient," Mr S explained in an eerily sensible manner, sending chills up Dr Tofu's spine who instantly snapped out of his Kasumi-induced stupor, staring up at Mr S with clear fear in his eyes, "Wouldn't you agree… Doc?"

"Y-Yes," Dr Tofu said after a while, dipping into a small bow, "Please forgive me for my show of indignity, it shall not happen again. If anything happens to Akane I wouldn't be able to forgive myself," Akane glared hard at Mr S for interrupting Dr Tofu's moment with her precious big sister as Dr Tofu offered her more meds, to which she declined.

"Oh my, Dr Tofu's acting normal for once," Kasumi said in surprise and Dr Tofu winced at the object of his affections calling him out on his antics.

"Yes, well, he is a doctor, as such he needs to remain focused at one hundred % proficiently consistently, if he wants to keep his patients alive," Mr S said emotionlessly, a bead of sweat running down Kasumi's cheek as she gulped at the man's merciless way of forcing Dr Tofu to act normal around her.

Kasumi had always liked Dr Tofu as a friend, but disliked the way the man acted around her. Kasumi had always liked older men, which was why she offered Akane as a scapegoat to Ranma to marry, because he was young and still very much immature.

Kasumi wanted someone who she could sit down with and have a mature conversation with, someone who she could spill her problems to, and would listen sensibly, and give her helpful advice.

With Dr Tofu Kasumi could never get that, and although it was nice he was acting normal around her for once Kasumi knew it was wrong to force him to.

"This way, sugar, she's in there!"

"Ukyo? What's she doing here?" Akane wondered while Kasumi walked over to her and laid a basket full of fruit down on her bed and other bag full of clothes on her bed rail.

"I requested Kuonji-san to find _the freak boy_ and bring him here," Mr S explained coldly, making Akane flinch.

"What do you want with Ranma?" Akane asked.

Ranma was really the only boy Akane could think of who had a Jusenkyo curse and would remotely care enough about her to stomp a mud-hole in the one who had hurt her. Sure Akane knew Musu, alias Mousse, had a Jusenkyo curse, but he didn't give a rat's rear end about her. His girl was Shampoo.

Ryoga might have cared for her like Mousse did for Shampoo, but he didn't have a Jusenkyo curse.

Did he?

No of course not.

Hearing Akane ask the devilish man what he wanted of Ranma put a small glimmer of hope in Soun's stomach and eyes, 'T-The l-lad! P-Perhaps h-he's come back to declare his love for my Akane! O-Oh how I've longed for this day! Thank you Yusuke-kun! Than-."

"Akane-chan!"

Ryoga's voice killed the hope in Soun and filled the selfish man with depression while Akane gasped and Mr smirked malevolently.

"I wasn't talking about the she-boy, girly," Mr S said devilishly, Akane whimpering and watching Ukyo run into the room followed by the lost-boy.

"You see. There's the jackass who hurt Ak-." Ukyo's words fell on deaf ears as Ryoga bum-rushed past her and headed straight for his injured angel.

"Akane-chan!" Ryoga ghosted to her side, Mr S' eyebrow raising in surprise as he felt Ryoga's power, "Oh dear Akane-chan, I'm so sorry I wasn't there to protect you." Ryoga fell to his knees, his hands falling on Akane's legs.

"Oh Ryoga-kun," Akane murmured, her hands softly massaging Ryoga's hair. Her heart was touched with how much passion and concern Ryoga showed for her well-being, "You don't have to worry about me, Ryoga-kun. I'm fine. Really I am. Honest."

Akane gasped once Ryoga rose his head up, shocked to see tears in the boy's eyes, "Dear Akane-chan," Ryoga was breaking down as his hands clasped Akane's waist, "I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you. I should've been there to protect you. How can you ever forgive me Akane-chan?"

"Ryoga-kun…" Akane whispered, her hands delicately grasping Ryoga's face, a blush lighting up the humble boy's face at his crush's touch as Akane raised his head and stared into his eyes, "I never knew you felt so strongly about keeping me safe Ryoga-kun."

Soun winced while a look of shame appeared on Dr Tofu's face.

'P-Please stop lad. My Akane's desired for Ranma. She's meant to have a moment with him!' Soun begged mentally. Truth be told his school and legacy would be carried on if Ryoga got with Akane and stayed with her until they were old enough to marry each other in the near future, but he wasn't a Saotome and thus wouldn't be able to merge his school with Genma's.

'I've been a fool. It was wrong of me to try and force Ranma and Akane together. I believe I owe the two an apologise.' Dr Tofu admitted to himself. Dr Tofu believed he was doing the right thing for Ranma and Akane's relationship when he cut off Ranma's legs, knowing Akane's sweet persona would come into play so Ranma could get home… until now. During the months he had known Ranma and Akane Dr Tofu had never seen them display such love for each other, on the contrary the two acted like siblings.

Akane and Ryoga acted like lovers.

"Dear Akane-chan, I'd give up my soul if it meant keeping you safe and sound," Ryoga said, making Akane smile dreamily at him, "I just wish I knew where the jerk who hurt you was, so I could teach him a lesson he'd never forget!" Akane softly brushed the bangs of Ryoga's hair out of his eyes, meekly holding the lost boy's head to her shoulder, "Akane-chan?"

Ukyo smirked. Ryoga was finally beginning to woo Akane which meant she had less competition for her Ranchan's heart. All she would need to do is point Ryoga in the direction of Akane's attacker, watch Ryoga take the guy to the cleaners, and scoop Akane off of her feet after all was said and done.

"Hey, freak-boy," Ryoga paused and Akane panicked as she watched Ryoga gently pull away from her embrace to look at Mr S.

"Who are you?" Ryoga asked curiously.

"Your girl's attacker," The smart-mouthed strict teacher told Ryoga.

Ryoga froze and Akane flinched, "Y-You were the one who attacked Akane?"

Mr S rolled his eyes, "Don't make me repeat myself, freak-boy."

"Y-You attacked Akane-chan," Ryoga murmured, his hair beginning to wave as his head lowered, his hands balling up into fists so tightly the veins in his arms became visible, "…Monster." Anger was beginning to envelop Ryoga to the highest calibre.

"Yes, I think we've established that already," Mr S said, gritting his teeth at the feel of Ryoga's power increasing, 'The freak boy's power is dangerously nearing upper B-class levels. The boss won't be pleased about this. I must kill him now.'

'Hmm. I didn't realize sugar was packing that much power in him. If I didn't know any better I would say he's nearly as strong as my Ranchan,' Ukyo rationalized. She could feel the boy's anger just radiating off of him in shades, she could see the semblance of Ryoga's anger shrouding his body, making his hair stand on ends as if Ryoga had just gone Kaio-ken, and the room was shaking from Ryoga's power.

"Ryoga-kun…" Akane murmured, completely amazed by the sheer magnitude of Ryoga's power. Was she wrong to be worried about a potential fight between Mr S and Ryoga?

XxX

(Outside)

On the outside those who were walking past Dr Tofu's clinic would've seen the roof blown clean off, followed by a bright red pillar of light that shot up to the sky, and roofed the sky apart.

"PREPARE TO DIE BASTARD!"

* * *

**And that does it for this chapter, and hopefully I can start developing Akane's character somewhat; because let's be honest people the anime-guys sucks ass at developing her characters. What the fuck were they doing when they animated Ranma 1/2? Akane's meant to be the main girl. Why was she such an unlikable stereotypical whiny Tsundere-character? Makes no sense. I shoulda known from the first episode of Ranma 1/2 I would be watching a poorly written anime series with piss poor comedy. **

**Like the last scene of the first episode when girl-Ranma accidentally walks in the bathroom not realizing Akane was in there at the time. Akane jumps the gun and slaps her. See? Stupid stuff like that that make Akane unlikable. The whole incident could've been resolved with a few simple words. I never thought I would find an anime as repulsive as Love Hina, but the anime-guys proved me wrong. **

**It's a shame as well because Ranma 1/2 had potential to be really good. I thought the first season of Ranma was really good, great even, despite the tripe. **

**The anime-guys were clearly winging Ranma 1/2. You can tell with the arcs they rushed over and stuff they left unresolved. Like the Bakusai Tenketsu arc in the anime. I remember when Cologne took Ryoga up into the woods to learn the technique. What was the point of learning such a lame ass technique? It turns out Ryoga couldn't even use it on Ranma anyway. Stupid, stupid. Sure the training built up Ryoga's already incredible endurance, but that shit's useless if he hasn't the skill to touch Ranma. What really pisses me off is that Ryoga never interacted with Cologne and Shampoo again.**

**Although I suppose that makes sense since she taught him a useless move. The old bitch...**

**I can't recall if Shampoo or Ryoga spoke more than fifty words to each other after that in the whole series.**

**Then there's the stupid P-chan nonsense. That's all the proof you need to realize the anime-guys cannot develop her characters. After Ryoga learns the crappy Bakusai Tenketsu he goes to fight Ranma, gets battered because Ranma's a badass, and ends up getting doused in cold water because Ranma one-bombed him so hard in the stomach he broke off part of the cliff, sending himself and Ryoga falling into the river below.**

**Of course this shit is meant to be Akane/Ranma despite the fact it makes no fucking sense so the anime-guys, obviously doesn't give two fucks about good writing, forces their tsundere-princess to shout Ranma. Afterwards P-chan just 'turns' up at the Tendo Dojo and Akane-bitch is none the wiser. Repulsive. **

**I don't understand where the anime-guys were going with Ranma 1/2 or Akane's character. Couldn't they have tried to make a unique female character instead of the cliched one? The movies of Ranma don't help either. They're shit. Typical cliche damsel in distress. It was sickening even attempting to watch them.**

**I turned off the second one once I saw Akane grab Ranma around her throat and started choking her for no reason. Revolting. **

**I hated Akane and the anime-dudes exaggerated her tsundere-moments and beatings of Ranma. It made me lose all respect for Ranma-character. I couldn't even watch the Pantyhose taro arc bullshit. It made no sense. There was no reason for Panyharo taro to go after Akane or why Ranma should give two shits about her. She's too abusive and has a repulsive attitude to match.**

**The episode where Akane ate Happosai's supa noodle says it all. She was soooooooooo arrogant in that episode I wanted to jump in the TV and kill her myself. When she got those whiskers on her cheeks, then started bawling like a little bitch I really didn't care because her attitude was completely disgusting. **

**The failed wedding attempt speaks volume.**

**heh. At least the anime-guys ****has some sense in those thick heads of theirs**

**Bad writing.**

**Rant over. **


	8. I'm No Weakling

**Disclaimer: I don't own YuYu Hakusho or Ranma 1/2**

**Y'know, I've been having a discussion with friends regarding the power scaling system, so I've decided to alter it slightly. So this is it now. **

**20% Ranma - Upper B class - D****estructive power - ****Town level plus - D****urability - ****City Block - Once when Ranma was disguised as Ryoga's little sister he admitted his body could not withstand the beating Ryoga was giving him. Not gonna lie that was fucking hilarious. Ranma-chan got spanked.**

**Kuno - Middle B class - **** Destructive power - ****City Block - Speed - Hypersonic. That was an episode where Kuno lost his memory, (episode 121). He** **was found by Ranma and Akane who brought him back to the Tendo Dojo where it was revealed he'd lost his memory. Anyway, long story short Ranma attempts to trigger Kuno's memory by throwing watermelons at him because he had a watermelon on his head when he washed up on shore.**

**Oh my days, Kuno just went badass and eradicated these small huts by releasing wind hurricanes from his sword. He even blew away Ranma, tore off Ranma's shirt, caught Ranma off guard with his speed to get in front** **of Ranma and put his sword to Ranma's neck. **

**Yo. People. Kuno's moving up in the world.**

**Shampoo - High C class - D****estructive power - L****arge Building - Speed - Hypersonic plus **

**Ukyo - High C class - ****destructive power - L****arge Building - Speed - Hypersonic**

**Mousse - Middle C - Destructive power - Boulder level (Doesn't really focus on destruction, relies more on skill.) Speed - Hypersonic plus.**

**Akane - Middle D class - Destructive power - Wall level - Speed - Peak Human **

**Y'know now that I thinks about it in terms of pure martial arts ability Ranma actually has Yusuke far outclassed. Yusuke, I love the guy, (no homo), but he ain't the sharpest knife in the drawer. He prefers to simply overpower his opponents than out-skilling them. **

* * *

**Chapter 8 **

**I'm No Weakling!**

Mouths were open in gawks at the sight and the feel of such a ferocious and overwhelming power, arms thrown up to cover foreheads, gusty winds created by the aura threatened to knock everyone off of their feet. Soun was forced to cover his whole body across a highly worried Akane's bed to keep her and the bed from tipping over.

Dr Tofu, acting on instinct, sped over to his crush, quickly ensnarling her shoulders with his hands to keep her from falling over from Ryoga's subconsciously releasing his mass amount of ki. He might have fallen into dreamland from getting to touch Akane's Kasumi-oneesama if he wasn't stuck in a stupor from feeling Ryoga's power.

It was so high even Kasumi could sense it!

'Incredible! I've only ever felt Ki this high from Saotome-san and Ranma! Hibiki-san's truly must be something else,' Dr Tofu mused, eyes never leaving the glowing form of Ryoga, 'To think, he powered up this much all because of Akane,' Dr Tofu sighed, more from reluctant acceptance of having to clean up his patient room than anything else.

Dr Tofu turned his head to look a dumbstruck Akane, 'Akane, I know you're young, and I know you haven't always had the best of luck with the,' Dr Tofu coughed mentally, '-…With the opposite sex, but I hope you realize you'd have something wonderful with Hibiki-kun.'

"I'm gonna show you hell!" Ryoga growled, snapping everyone out of their Ryoga's-an-OP'd-dude-induced stupors, their eyes wide at the crimson red shrouded lost-boy, the raven-haired boy's eyes were no longer seen; just red vengeful pupliess sclera.

'Damn! The freak-boy's power! How'd he get so strong? His power was not calculated to be this high! My scanners cannot even read it!' Mr S thought exasperatedly, gnashing his teeth as Ryoga's aura forced him back a bit.

"Don't make me laugh freak-boy! You're just a human! What makes you think you can beat me?" Mr S shouted. There was just the faintest amount of desperation in Mr S' angry filled voice; almost as if he was trying to convince himself instead of Ryoga.

Ukyo narrowed her eyes, 'There it is again. What does this jackass mean by sugar's just a 'human?' After I slammed my spatula in the jackass's back he quoted if he were a mere human he would've been taken out.' Ukyo contemplated, 'Hmm. Who would create such a thing? Whatever jackass created this jackass has to have knowledge of Jusenkyo in some way, shape, or form. I mean, why else would this jackass know about Ryoga's curse.'

Ryoga spat, the saliva colliding with the floor and made the tiniest puddle, "Yeah, yeah, you can keep telling yourself that, jerk!" Mr S glared hard at Ryoga, growling and cracking his knuckles in anticipation for his fight with Ryoga, "Tch. It's time to put my training to the test! I'll make you pay for what you did to Akane-chan!"

Ryoga's challenging words were enough to snap the youngest Tendo out of her stupor, and she wrestled to jump off of the bed to stop Ryoga from fighting Mr S, but her father grabbed her by the waist and struggled to keep her on the bed; he didn't want to hurt his baby girl after all.

"Ryoga-kun, don't!" Akane pleaded, struggling to get Soun off of her, "Don't fight him for me! I'm not worth it! Please!"

"Don't worry, Akane-chan, I've got this," Ryoga coolly assured his crush, his heart almost breaking as his ears picked up Akane's whimpers, "I'm stronger now, he ain't no match for me!"

"Fool! Don't make me laugh!" Mr S said as if he had heard the world's worst joke ever, "You, freak-boy, are making me very angry, I don't like having to repeat myself, but I'll make one last exception for a dead freak walking! You. Are. A. Mere. Human! You can't defeat me! The very notion is inconceivable."

"Why don't you shut up?" Ryoga scoffed, making Mr S kiss his teeth, "Since you don't like repeating yourself and all," Ryoga rationalized calmly, "No matter what you say, I'm still gonna kill you for what you did to Akane-chan. So prepare to die asshole."

"I see," Mr S said in acceptance, closing his eyes, "I was hoping for this to be a quick kill. I have other freaks to massacre after all."

"I lemme guess, the Jusenkyo Preservation Society sent you out to kill me, Saotome, Shampoo, and Mousse eh," Ryoga surmised dryly, gritting his teeth in frustration once he heard Akane gasp, knowing he really should learn to keep his mouth shut.

The reactions of the others varied from Akane's. Soun's was a look of realization and fear, fear that his good friend Saotome was in grave danger, Kasumi's was an earnest concern one, Dr Tofu's was a mix of realization and worry, being the wise man he was and all, and Ukyo's was one of curiosity.

'It's them; the Jusenkyo Preservation Society?! That's the messed up organization that kidnapped Uncle Saotome, Shampoo, and Mousse!' Akane mused, frowning, 'But why would they want to harm Ryoga-kun? He hasn't got a curse like the others. Argh! I wish I knew what was going on.'

Mr S snickered devilishly, "How right you are Mr Hibiki. It's our duty to keep this world running smoothly, maintaining the balance. You see, you freaks disrupt that balance and peace we've worked so hard for, we simply cannot allow that," Mr S lectured, rising his arms in the air with a melodramatic air around him, "Now, we must purify this world of all the treacherous ones who jumped in the Jusenkyo ponds!"

Mr S threw off his glasses, showing everyone his glowing purple eyes, Soun gulping out of fear. This guy was almost as scary as the evil master, "You understand now? For the sake of the world you must die freak-boy!"

To Akane's horror, Mr S ran towards Ryoga at full pace

"Ryoga-kun, watch out! Please someone help him!" Akane begged.

It hurt Soun and Dr Tofu a lot to ignore Akane's pleas, but they knew Ryoga was their best chance of defeating Mr S. If he couldn't do it then no one else in that room at the present time could, and that was as true as the sky was blue and the grass was green.

Ryoga's chin tilted upwards, Mr S smacking his gloved fist into it knocked his head up and made Akane, Dr Tofu, Soun, and Kasumi flinch and Ukyo scowl.

'Ryoga, you jackass! Why didn't you dodge that?' Ukyo mused.

Mr S smirked, "I hope that gives you some insight on my power, freak-boy. I've already explained himself, so there's no need to explain myself again. You should just surrender and die with dignity, freak-boy."

"A-Are y-you okay, lad?" Soun asked shakily, carefully moving his head to look at the stricken Ryoga while still keeping a hold on his injured daughter to make sure she didn't jump off of the bed.

"Of course he's not okay, you fool!" Mr S shouted harshly, causing Soun to cringe and hug his daughter, who fumed at his cowardice, "I just hit him with my **Atomikku-ken (Atomic-fist). **Everything I hit with this beauty the damage is increased tenfold!" Mr S explained dramatically, scoffing and smirking at the gasps which came from the observers, "He's done for."

"Ryoga-kun," Akane wailed softly.

'Damn it sugar,' Ukyo mused, gnashing her teeth.

'Oh my, he's such a frightening man. Poor Ryoga-kun, he didn't deserve that. He was only trying to stand up for Akane-imouto,' Kasumi thought, hand on her mouth and a saddened look on her face, 'If only Urameshi-kun or Ranma-kun were here. Ryoga-kun wouldn't have to feel obligated to defend Akane-imouto's honour like this.'

Dr Tofu gritted his teeth and clenched his fists at the sight of Ryoga getting one-bombed in his chin, 'No, Hibiki-san, he's just a child,' A child that was far more powerful than him, but a child nonetheless, '-No older than Akane. How could this man-, no, monster, be so cruel?' Dr Tofu's face scrunched up in desperation, 'I will have to do something, the question now is, what?'

Mr S turned to Akane with a fiendish grin, causing Soun to flinch and whimper, "You see, little girl, freaks are nothing in the end. You'd do well to avoid them."

Seeing her friend brutalized much in the same way she had been left Akane shaken up, and when she got like that she usually fell back into her comfort zone: anger, "How could you do that to Ryoga-kun? Whatever has he done to you, you jerk?!"

"My, you're quite the pertinacious one, are you not?" Mr S said smoothly, removing his fist from Ryoga's chin, Ryoga's head still held up, "You will come to understand. The world's a better place without freaks like this one polluting it."

Akane pouted furiously, wishing she had more power so she could slam a hammer of some sort over Mr S' head. The jerk! He knew Ryoga wasn't any match for him! How could he be when Akane herself was brushed off so effortlessly? Sure Ryoga was powerful, but many of times had Ranma put the lost-boy in his place.

Akane classed herself in the same league as Ranma, so if she couldn't beat Mr S, by logic what chance did Ryoga have of beating him?

"You…" Akane seethed.

"Yes, I know, but there's really no need to thank me little girl. I was just doi-."

"You know, I would really appreciate it if you didn't speak about me like I wasn't here," The lost-boy spoke up, sounding unamused, his head lowering with a look of calm indifference.

Mr S was shocked, "How did you…?"

"Ryoga-kun!" Akane chirped, very much relieved and perplexed to see Ryoga okay, relieved because her friend wasn't dead, and confused because he tanked Mr S' supposedly strongest punch like it was nothing, 'How did Ryoga-kun take that blow so easily? He hasn't even got a scratch on him!'

"Ha. Perhaps you should try hitting harder, it usually works for me," Ryoga said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Mr S scowled, trying to school his emotions, "Be careful not to get full of myself, human," A small smirk came to Mr S' face, "That was just a warm up punch. You see I haven't used my Atomikku-ken in ages. I just needed to run through the kinks."

Akane gulped hearing that. She was injured badly just by receiving one blow by Mr S' regular hand, yet here he was clarifying that he hadn't used his more superior hand in a long time.

Just how powerful was Ryoga to tank that?

"Feel free to tell yourself that, it's still not going to save you from the beating I'm going to give you for what you did to Akane, asshole!" Ryoga assured, Akane still pleading with Ryoga to stop while Mr S scoffed.

"So you keep on saying freak-boy, but let's see you bring that to fruition!" Mr S said, launching another Atomikku-ken at Ryoga's face, much to Akane's horror.

"Ryoga!"

Right before Mr S' enhanced fist could connect with Ryoga's nose; the mad teacher got something chucked into his own face. The force equalled that of a wrecking ball flying directly into Mr S' face, forcing him to scream while he went spiralling away from the lost boy.

Akane and Kasumi instinctively closed their eyes at the eruption of the wall; the crazy inhuman teacher soaring out of it while shouting belligerently.

"Oh my!" Kasumi gasped, hand covering her mouth.

Ryoga had bitch-slapped Mr S out of the building much in the same way Mr S had backhanded Akane into the clinic.

Akane was in complete shock as her mouth was open in agape, 'How-. Wha-?' Her mind simply couldn't process what had happened, even when she replayed it over in her head. Ryoga had just bitch-slapped the man who had taken her down a peg like she was an ant beneath his feet.

"Now I'll finish this!" Ryoga declared. The lost-boy only saw a dark, menacing, glowing red light in the distance. For once Ryoga wasn't going to get lost on the way to his destination. He was determined, he was focused, and he had a lock on target.

Mr S was going down!

"Ryoga-kun, wait!" Akane begged, helplessly watching Ryoga jet out of the clinic like a moving car.

Ukyo smirked, 'Well I'm quite impressed sugar. I don't know what happened to you in this past month but you've really stepped up your game,' Ukyo's eyes held amusement in them, 'It's just like I've always been saying, Ryoga-sugar and Akane-sugar really do make a nice couple.'

"The Jusenkyo Preservation Society," Dr Tofu murmured thoughtfully, catching Kasumi's attention.

"Oh no, they're back! Saotome's in trouble! Where's Ranma-kun when you need him!" Soun wailed.

"Okay, hold up! I'm confused What is the Jusenkyo Preservation Society?" Ukyo asked.

"They're a secret organization devoted to keeping peace by making sure those who have fallen into the cursed springs of Jusenkyo don't misuse their curse forms. However, I fear their methods of going about this are rather… twisted to say the least," Dr Tofu explained informatively.

Ukyo turned to look at Akane who was trying to make sense out of things, "Yeah, I can see that. I wouldn't put it pass the jackasses to resort to kidnapping Ranchan and the others."

"Three months ago Uncle Saotome was taken away by a rather strange fellow, Ranma-chan had to go after him and save him, thereby rescuing the others in the progress," Kasumi spoke up demurely, Dr Tofu flinching as he realized Kasumi was standing right next to him all along.

Ukyo rolled her eyes, "Figures as much."

"Kasumi!" Dr Tofu squeaked, his glasses gleaming up, "What a pleasant surprise it is to see you! Would you like some tea! I'll get Betty to get you some!" Dr Tofu turned towards Ukyo, "Betty, would you be a dear and fetch Kasumi some tea!"

"I'm not your skeleton sugar," Ukyo said dryly, annoyed.

Kasumi smiled; although anyone who knew her on a personal level would know it was more than a little forced, "My, well thank you, Dr Tofu, but I'm afraid I'm not actually that thirsty."

"What's that Kasumi? You hear something? You would like a backrub? Oh Kasumi!" Dr Tofu enthused, shaking the skeleton excitedly like it was really Kasumi.

"I just don't get it!" Akane said exasperatedly.

"What don't you get sugar?" Ukyo asked.

"What would those creeps want with Ryoga-kun for?" Akane stressed, Ukyo remaining silence while Soun got a gleam in his eye. He knew if he told Ryoga's secret to Akane then Akane would be so furious she'd dump Ryoga, and would go running back into Ranma's arms.

It was the perfect plan!

Soun raised his hand and opened his mouth to speak, but immediately closed it with a pained look on his face as he gnashed his teeth to stop from screaming out; the screams being swapped for a long squeak.

Soun looked down to see a sandaled foot on his one before looking to his left and seeing Ukyo with a threatening look on her face, getting Soun to swallow hard before he winced at a message on Ukyo's hand...

*Make a scene and I'll kill you.* Translation: tell Akane about Ryoga's curse and you're a dead man.

A paled Soun nodded his head slowly, obviously having received the message loud and clear.

"Did you have something to say, papa?" Akane asked the whimpering Soun, "C'mon what do you think those jerks would want with Ryoga-kun? He hasn't done anything to warrant their attention!"

"I don't think you have anything to worry about there sugar," Ukyo lied, not wanting to give Akane any reason to not get with the lost-boy, "Why don't you wait for Ryoga to get back from thrashing that jackass around, eh." Ukyo suggested with a wink, Akane lowering her head with her fists clenched.

The stubborn-girl rose her head up with a hard look of resolution on her face.

"No!" Akane said firmly, surprising Ukyo, "I'm going to Ryoga-kun!"

"But Akane-dear," Soun tried.

"Don't try to stop me daddy, I have to get to Ryoga-kun. Who knows how long that fight will last with how angry Ryoga-kun is! He… he's even angrier at Mr S then he usually is when Ranma-idiot winds him up," A blush adorned Akane's face at that thought, 'He's doing all this for me.' Akane's face turned as red as a tomato.

Ryoga really did care for her.

"I don't think that's such a good idea. By the looks of it your body still needs time to recover after what that jackass put you through," Ukyo said.

"I'm not going to get myself involved! I'm just…" Akane stalled, "I just wanna be there for Ryoga-kun… please." Ukyo was caught off guard momentarily, before she crossed her arms over her chest stoically, "C'mon papa, please let me go. You can help me there if you want!"

"Oh Akane-dear," Soun said. His baby girl was putting him in a tight spot here. He could never find it in him to deny her, but he really didn't want to take her to a boy who was dangerously closing in on the capture of her heart. The thief of Akane's heart was meant to be Ranma-kun! Soun had everything planned out once the day came when Ranma and Akane would marry each other.

…Well. There's always Kasumi and Nabiki to marry off to Ranma.

Soun's dream of merging the Tendo School of Anything Goes Martial Arts with the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts would come to fruition no matter the cost! The price of Kasumi's and/or Nabiki's lives was little to achieve the end-all.

Soun would see his dream come true!

Even if that meant Soun would have to deal *gulp* (deal) with Urameshi-kun.

"Well I think Akane-imouto should go find Ryoga-kun," Kasumi said in defence of Akane and Akane smiled brightly.

"Thank you Kasumi-oneesama!" Akane said appreciatively.

"B-But Kasumi-dear, what about Dr Tofu! He hasn't said Akane-dear's free for discharge!" Soun said in a desperate attempt to conjure up an excuse to keep Akane away from Ryoga, eliciting a glare out of Ukyo.

Kasumi smiled, turning towards Dr Tofu who had put his skeleton on a free bed and was rubbing its fleshless body, "Oh Dr Tofu, would it be okay if Akane-imouto came home with us now!"

"Hmm? Of course, Kasumi! Here, let me just bandage her up!" Dr Tofu said hurriedly, grabbing some bandages and running over to what he thought was Akane, wrapping bandages around 'Akane''s head, "There you're cured!"

"Uhm, lad, I think you've got the wrong person," Soun explained in a calm tone of voice while having a bunch of bandages messily wrapped around his head.

The out of it Doctor looked at the Tendo patriarch with a confused expression on his face, "Huh?"

Akane giggled adorably, before looking out at the damaged wall.

'I'm coming Ryoga-kun, just wait for me.'

XxX

(Ryoga vs Mr S)

Pain.

Fear.

Desperation.

Three things the lunatic teacher never thought he would be acquainted with.

How wrong was he?

This boy, no, this freak of nature had made _him, him, fucking him, _one of the Jusenkyo Preservation Society's top men feel all of those foolish human emotions!

How dare him!?

How dare that damned criminal make him, Mr S, cry out in desperation while he felt himself bouncing off of the hard concrete ground after the criminal had whammed the back side of his fist or foot directly into Mr S' face or spine. Mr S was struggling to even fight back.

The devastating beating Ryoga was dishing out was fast and relentless.

Mr S had never fought a human so immensely powerful since the company's _one number_ guy offered him a sparring match to break Mr S in to which Mr S accepted, and was thoroughly toyed with by the powerful cursed man.

Mr S never thought he would find another human with the power equivalent of the boss' top dog.

Until now, that was.

"Not so nice to be the one on the receiving end of a beating, eh, asshole," Ryoga raged, spin kicking Mr S to the curb again.

Mr S pushed himself up onto his knee, glaring hatefully at Ryoga, "I'm becoming rather sick and tired of your mouth, _freak-boy!"_

Ryoga scoffed, "Then why don't you come do something about it, that is, unless you're scared of me," That slight mocking tone to Ryoga's voice really grinded on Mr S' last nerve.

"I'll show you! I won't lose to you! Not to a freak who disrupts the peace! This was not what I was built for! You hear me _human_! I will destroy you and preserve the balance!" Mr S was clearly losing it and Ryoga was loving it deep down, even if his outward expression didn't show it; it remained stoic and calm, like the wind.

'Hn. This must be how that jerk Saotome feels when I come at him raging, 'Saotome prepare to die',' Ryoga almost wanted to grin smugly at the thought, but he managed to resist. He couldn't wait to show Saotome how powerful he had become training under his teacher, Yusuke-sensei.

Mr S was burning up inside and outside by the lack of reaction by the lost-boy, "Don't ignore me you freak!" Mr S raised his gloved hand, gripping his wrist with his other one, "These are your final moments, don't you have anything to say?"

"Well, I would, but-."

"But what freak?"

"My mom said I shouldn't talk to myself. Sorry."

If Mr S was angry at being manhandled as if he were a ragdoll, his explosive temper shot way over 9000 at being declared already dead by a quote-on-quote walking criminal.

"ARGH! HUMAN!" Mr S raged, ripping the glove off of his hand to reveal a shiny bluish-purple robotic-looking hand that began a slow, but steady rotation before gradually picking up pace, "I will teach you to respect your betters, puny human!" At this point the spinning rotation of Mr S' (formerly) gloved right hand had gathered so much speed it literally resembled a shiny blue tornado, Mr S grinning evilly as he straightened his right arm outward as if it were a gun at the lost-boy, "Hmph. This shall finish you. No one has ever survived a shot of my **Kami no Bachi: Kono Sekai Kara Subete no Jaakuna Mono-Tachi o Tsuihō (God's Punishment: Banish All Evil Ones From This World)**!"

The twisting mini hurricane that was Mr S' hand solidified into a hardened spherical-sized dome of Ki, Mr S snickering fiendishly as it grew in size.

Mr S' snickering was brought to an abrupt halt as Ryoga speedily blurred in front of him and entrapped his death godly ball of righteous destruction with his left hand, "Ha! You think I'm gonna let you fire off such a huge concentrated ball of ki!? No way!"

"Human," Mr S seethed darkly, desperately trying to pull his hand free of Ryoga's grip, but the lost-boy held a strong vice-lock grip on his hand, tightening it every second with the intent of crushing Mr S' signature attack along with his attack, "Fool! Let go!" Mr S commanded, noticing Ryoga gnashing his teeth and hot stream flowed upwards from Mr S' trapped fist and through the gaps in between Ryoga's fingers.

"Ha! Not a chance!" Ryoga declared stubbornly, 'Damn! What the hell's up with this guy's attack! It's burning my hand!' Despite the pain, Ryoga pressed on, eradicating Mr S' God divine punishment attack along with Mr S' right robotic hand in a shower of sickly black blood.

"Aaaaaaah! What have you done!?" Mr S screamed in agony.

"Now you're finish!" Ryoga stated.

Mr S took a comprehensive triple hotel-luxury blow, Ryoga's arm shaped in a V-styled buried in Mr S' thorax!

The uppercut lifted Mr S straight into the air with black blood flying from his mouth. As for Ryoga, he aggressively powered forward, then using his powerful legs, set off like a rocket shooting up to the moon, a fierce, furious expression on the lost-boy's face.

Mr S felt like his lungs were going to burst out with all the screaming he was doing as Ryoga whaled him with a straight forward classic punch in the gut.

Imprisoning Mr S' head in a _Godzilla-_grip, Ryoga scanned the area of Nerima from a bird-eye view for a safe place to throw Mr S, one isolated of civilians so no one would get injured in the crossfire.

Ryoga found a deserted spot. It was the one right next to the canal and that _fence; _the very same fence Saotome easily ambled on as if he were taking a stroll in the park.

'Just you wait, _Saotome_, Cause you're next!' Ryoga vowed, hurling Mr S towards the fence near the canal with such force flames of heat shrouded the man's form. The artificially created madman shouted desperately, with the wind ferociously slamming into his face.

**BAMM! **

Landing outside of the canal, Mr S was forcibly blown into the ground from the shockwave which tore the fence from the ground, blew it away, cracked the surrounding houses, obliterated the walls of which separated by-passers from the people's houses, rid the street of lampposts, and stirred the water within the canal.

"…This ki-…" Mr S tried to say, coughing out blood, but an extremely sharpened heavy ton stone pillar of a rock-like object crashing into his stomach cut him off, forcing him to cry out.

Ryoga cursed his luck when the water from the canal rose up like a tidal wave. His falling knee drop on Mr S had environmental effects it seemed.

Wasting no time to get away from the water, Ryoga flipped up, booting Mr S down the street like a soccer ball, watching him bounce down the street with a grimace on his face before he disappeared from sight just as the water rained down.

As Mr S reached the end of the street he miraculously changed the course of his trajectory, so he could soar through the air with a wince and a grit of his teeth. Any high calibre warrior used to insane levels of speed would know a green clad fanged raven-haired boy had majestically appeared in front of the rolling Mr S, and spin kicked him in the air before taking off himself.

Ryoga arrowed himself directly to the soaring Mr S, and hit the bull-eye with his head in the form of Mr S' spine. Mr S wailed, saliva flying out of his mouth as Ryoga surveyed for another deserted spot to wrap up his fight with Mr S.

He found one. One he knew all too well. It was a park, though with the trees and bushes it could easily be passed off as a jungle in Ryoga's eyes.

Many of times had the lost-boy got himself lost in that park and couldn't find his way out for hours, days, or even weeks!

Not that it mattered now, he had a fight to finish. And currently, no one was in that park which meant no one would be caught in the crossfire of Ryoga's sheer annihilation of Mr S. Ryoga was sure after this, that park would no longer be called a park.

"This is it asshole! Say your prays!" Ryoga declared, his foot finishing up another appointment with Mr S' face to rearrange it; the crazed teacher spiralling out of control and heading on a one-way course on a not-so-pleasant trip to the park! "I won't let you get off that easy, jerk!"

Ryoga danced his way to the falling Mr S, stomping his feet onto Mr S' chest as if he were running on the spot (ground) before slamming his foot into Mr S' mouth, forcing Mr S' descent to increase with blood and a pair of front teeth going the opposite way from his mouth before joining him on his fall.

A tremor occurred, debris dust erupted, and a pair of trees was axed to the ground once Mr S landed in the park.

Ryoga held his arms out and stretched his head back, "Aaaaaarrrrggggghhhh!" Roaring, Ryoga dived downwards, his red aura of Ki circling powerfully around his body, lighting up the already clear blue sky in a blood red glow.

As Ryoga neared the park, he ignored the leaves of the trees hitting his face. He only had one thing on his mind, and he had him dead for rights by all means, as he slammed his body directly into his, the force creating a shockwave which mowed four more trees down and busted up Mr S even more.

Now on top of Mr S, Ryoga rose his fists and brought them down with thunderous force on Mr S' head.

"This is for Akane!"

Ryoga repeated his actions, this time shaking the entire park and bringing six more trees down to the ground.

"And this is for Akane!"

Another even more powerful double-hammer blow from the enraged lost-boy cratered the ground around him and fanned some of the leaves out of the park.

"And this is for Akane!"

Spider-cracks appeared all around Ryoga and Mr S as Ryoga's fists devastatingly connected with Mr S' chest.

"And this is for Akane!"

Dropping two more wrecking-ball style hits on Mr S' bloody smeared face caused more grass to shatter away, the area slowly turning into a lifeless wasteland.

"And this is for Akane, you bastard!"

This twin strike had even more juice pumped in them then the last ones combined. The ground opened up, sinking in and pushing the remaining trees off to the side.

"Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die!" And Ryoga's assault didn't stop, even know Mr S had long since lost consciousness even before Ryoga gave him his strongest hit. By now, the artificially made-man was probably dead, but try telling that to the pig-headed boy; the one continuing trying to turn a dead man's body into mush with his two fists alone.

Ryoga didn't know how long he was there, punching away at Mr S' motionless body, and he knew without a shadow of a doubt he wouldn't have stopped if It weren't for two angelic hands touching his shoulders, before slowly making their way to his cheeks. Somehow, he just knew it was his angel.

"Ryoga-kun."

Her gentle voice just reaffirmed his instincts.

"Akane-chan," Ryoga said in surprise, his angry crimson red aura slowly disappearing from his body. Slowly, he turned his head and in his eyes he saw a magnificent saintly rainbow-esque shining aura around his angel: Akane Tendo, the same girl of holy beauty who had been brought to Ryoga by her father who was off to the side looking nervously at the eradicated Mr S.

"I came…" Akane diverted her eyes from Ryoga and to the bloodied form of Mr S, who was spread out like a pancake, sparks of electricity appearing from Mr S' face as if he were short-circuiting, "I came to offer you my support," Akane sighed, "I guess you really didn't need me, huh?"

"Akane-chan," Ryoga murmured, standing up in time to catch Akane as the exhausted girl fell on his chest, "You shouldn't be here. Your injuries haven't healed up yet. What if you aggrieve them?"

"I know, Ryoga-kun! I just wanted to make sure you wouldn't cause too much damage to the town! I've seen how you get when fighting Ranma-idiot. You let loose and run at Ranma-idiot like a blind wild animal," Akane screeched, then cast her eyes down.

"I'm sorry, Akane-chan," Ryoga whispered, rubbing Akane's lower back while her hands rested comfortably on his muscled chest. It felt so good to be holding Akane. So good someone could kill the lost-boy right now, and he would still die happy, "It's just…" Ryoga's face tensed up, as Akane looked up at him, "That jerk made me so mad, attacking you like this! You didn't deserve that!"

"Oh Ryoga-kun I never knew," Akane spoke softly.

"If those jerks from Jusenkyo wanted a piece of me then they should've come straight to me instead of getting you involved, Akane-chan!" Ryoga raged.

"But Ryoga-kun, what would they want with you? I mean, you're not like Ranma-idiot, Uncle Saotome, Shampoo, or Mousse. Are you?" Akane asked in an innocent, sweet tone of voice, causing Ryoga to mentally panic staring into his crush's soft, questioning gaze.

'I just knew someday it would come to this. Ohhhhh! Why must my life be so tainted!?' Ryoga anguished.

Soun saw a golden opportunity to push Ryoga and Akane apart and send his baby girl running into Ranma's arms, "Lad," Soun began, reaching out and grabbing Ryoga's shoulder, who looked to be in a tight spot, "I believe it would be for the best if you came clean to my Akane-chan. Even if the truth could very well-," Soun gathered his words, "-be rather different for the two of you to deal with, I highly believe you two would stay good friends, lad."

Unfortunately, subtly was not Soun's specialty as Akane glared at him, making him wince, 'Quit trying to force me and Ranma-idiot together, daddy!' Akane screamed in her mind, showing the tiniest bit of resentment towards Soun through her enraged eyes, eliciting a tearful expression to appear on the Tendo patriarch's face.

"Akane-chan, I-."

A pair of fingers softly touching Ryoga's lips silenced his struggling confession.

"You don't have to tell me if you're not ready, Ryoga-kun," Akane promised with a bright smile.

Ryoga looked at her, dumbfounded, "W-What?"

Ryoga was expecting to tell her about the fact he had been P-chan all along, using his curse-form to his advantage to sleep in her bed, but here the beautiful girl had assured him that he didn't have to tell her his secret.

Before Ryoga's joy could completely erupt, a stern look appeared on Akane's face, "But you have to promise me mister that you'll tell me when you're ready! I'm serious, Ryoga-kun! I want to know why those people from China seem to want you as much as they want the others who have curses."

Ryoga still couldn't believe his luck! He had time! He had time to find a cure to his dreaded curse. Once he did that he could tell Akane about being P-chan and get on his hands and knees and beg for her righteous forgiveness! Oh what a happy day, not even the gods themselves could spoil the Hibiki-boy's day!

"Of course; anything for you, Akane-chan," Ryoga accepted, releasing a breath he did not know he was holding in, a true happy smile coming directly from the bottom of his heart forming across his face, a sight that was rather unusual on the usual miserable lost-boy.

"Good!" Akane smiled, then it turned shy as she diverted her eyes away from Ryoga's, "You know if we're going to make this work between us we have to eventually reveal all of our secrets to each other, y'know."

Soun took those words to heart, feeling as if someone had stabbed him ten times over while Ryoga froze.

"Y-You m-mean w-we like a… c-cou-," Ryoga attempted to say, but quickly got nervous, and when he got shy, he usually started laughing and doing things he didn't mean, "Hahahahahahaha!" Ryoga laughed creepily, stomping his foot into the ground without realizing it.

Akane giggled adorably, "Silly boy, what else could I have meant." Akane nuzzled her head against a starry-eyed Ryoga's chest.

This was it.

Ryoga was well and truly on cloud nine.

"Oh Akane-chan."

With that Ryoga tightened his grip around the youngest Tendo, the two enjoying the warmth of each other, the devastated Soun completely forgotten.

'Well… there's always Kasumi-dear and Nabiki-dear Ranma-kun could marry.'

xXx

(Earlier That Day)

"WHAT A HAUL! WHAT A HAUL!"

A delighted Happosai happily chanted with a green bag filled with bras and panties held behind his neck; a horde of angry women racing behind him all wielding broom-sticks, frying-pans, and other kitchen and household essentials they could get their hands on to beat the crap outta the perverted old man.

Happosai even had a pink lacy pair of panties wrapped around his face like a burglar.

"Give us back our underwear!"

"Ah. After this me thinks I should pay a visit to Ranma-baby," Happosai contemplated, a lecherous smirk forming across his face. This past month had almost driven the old man insane without his sex toy around him to feel up.

A cocky wolf-fanged grin flashed through Happosai's mind.

That_ damned_ brat!

If he had just minded his own business then Happosai wouldn't have been sent off to another country badly injured, and needed to recuperate. Sure it was fun and really pleasurable to be receiving sponge baths by pretty nurses who couldn't understand a lick of Japanese, not that it mattered since Happosai had been all around the world in his long life and learned all things of languages, but it just wasn't the same without getting a feel of their luscious breasts.

Damn brat!

He should've just stayed out of it. It had nothing to do with him.

'Hmph. I have something planned for you, fella, just you wait,' Happosai mused, his perverted smirk turning devilish, 'You'll come to respect the name Happosai-sama once I get finished with you, fell-.' The diminutive martial artist could think no more; the flat hard end of a rubbery surface which grinded on Happosai's head conspicuously resembled a clad foot.

The mob of angry women all stopped at the sight of Happosai's head buried in the ground.

"Who's that?"

"He stopped the old man!"

"He's cute!"

"I wonder if he has a girlfriend!"

"Check out his muscles, you could grind cheese on 'em!"

Yusuke ignored the ladies swooning over him and looked down at Happosai with a mask of impassiveness, "Been a long time, eh midget-geezer." His choice of words seemed to confuse the young women while the underside of his foot slowly started to shake.

Yusuke allowed his foot to rise into the air enough to see Happosai's scowling face, "You!"

"So nice to see you too," Yusuke grumbled sarcastically, "I'd go good cop, bad cop on your midget ass to find out what you're doing here, but it looks like you've been out raiding the women's clothes store," The older women of the mob scowled at the old man while the younger ones giggled sweetly at Yusuke's sense of humour.

"What do you expect fella? These bountiful beauties are to be added to my collection. I won't let you have 'em!" Happosai declared stubbornly, grimaces appearing on the faces of the women he stole from.

"Your collection, eh," Yusuke repeated darkly.

"That's right! These are mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine!" Happosai raved childishly, throwing a tantrum upon finding his burglar bag lifted off of his shoulders by Yusuke, "Hey! You gimme that back! It's mine! It's not fair for you to take 'em off of me! You gotta respect your elders!"

Yusuke scoffed before turning and chucking the bag at the mob of women in calm indifference, "Here you go, ladies."

A trio of older women caught the bag with their underwear in them while the schoolgirls fawned at Yusuke's coolness, "Thank you, sir!" They chorused.

"The name's Yusuke, Yusuke Urameshi, and don't mention it," Yusuke looked down at the furious Happosai with a malevolent smirk which promised hell-to-pay for the old man, "It was my pleasant."

The school girls giggled cutely, "Okay! You're the best Yusuke-kun/Urameshi-kun/Yusuke-chan/Yu-chan!" The young girls cheered simultaneously, with a few of them cheekily adding the 'chan' suffix onto his name. One in particular got Yusuke to flinch before a saddened look came to his face.

'Ranma,' Yusuke mused, 'I gotta apologize to her.' As the women and school girls disappeared, Yusuke let his foot slip from the head of the perverted master of Anything Goes Martial Arts in such an absentminded manner it appeared as if Yusuke was zoned out.

Happosai squeezed himself from underneath Yusuke's foot and looked up at him, smirking at the far-out look on the boy's face, 'Now's my chance!' Happosai ran through some hand-signs, turning his index finger pink before he leaped at Yusuke, "Take this brat!"

**CRACK!**

Happosai's finger was caught in between Yusuke's much larger index and middle fingers in a scissors-lock before Yusuke casually snapped the old man's finger as if it were chocolate, causing him to let out a babyish wail.

"Yeah. You probably shouldna alerted me with that last line. You mighta nailed me if ya hadn't. Just sayin," Yusuke said casually, not caring when he heard Happosai sniff, and gaze up at him with wet sparkling eyes.

"You really have no respect for me eh fella?" Happosai asked.

"Oh, is it that obvious?" Yusuke asked in return, a dry look on his face and he rolled his eyes, "Answer me this, midget-geezer? Why in the hell would I respect a shrivelled up smurf whose ninjas around and raids women's cribs for their underwear like fuckin Santa Clause bustin into people's houses to steal back presents?"

Happosai growled, "It's called collecting for your information you ungrateful brat! You have no love in your soul for crying out loud!"

Yusuke yawned, a listless expression on his face, "Yeah, yeah, keep yappin away, midget-geezer. I got better things to do then to be associating with a wrinkling bag of bullshitery, like for instance I coulda sworn I stepped on sumthin," Yusuke sniffed the air, his expression never changing, "Smells kinda _shitty_. Ya' know what that is, old fart."

Happosai scowled before tears came to his eyes, "You, You, You big meanie. Why must you look down on me? It's not fair!"

Happosai hacked up a mass amount of blood from Yusuke tremendously poking his index finger inside of his gut, "Sure. Sounds legit, eh, since we hooligans are known for harassing the senior citizens,"

Happosai scowled at Yusuke. He wasn't that old. He was still fresh enough to peek in on the pretty ladies taking a hot bath together, stealing women's lingerie, and of course groping their beautiful breasts, or just outright taking what he deserved from them.

Yusuke sent Happosai blasting off with a simple flick of his wrist, then he lazily lifted up his pinkie finger, a spherical-ball forming on the tip of his smallest finger. Dispassionately, Yusuke observed the orb on his finger enlarged in size until it resembled the size of a 40 inch plasma screen TV.

"**Reigan (Spirit Gun)**," Yusuke murmured expressionlessly, the orb of energy shooting out of his index finger and morphing into a long shiny blue stream with a fairly huge ball settled at the top. The spirit gun walloped the screaming Happosai and began to carry him away.

"CURSE YOU, BRAT! YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE LAST OF ME WHIPPERSNAPPER!" Happosai warned before he became no more but a mere sparkle in the sky.

"Don't remind me. Dunno why I even allow him assess to this realm of hardworking individuals," Yusuke sighed, tucking his hands into his pockets, locking his senses on a certain redhead, "Might have ta arrange a permanent sleepover with the fishes for midget-geezer If he keeps on buggin ladies like this."

Yusuke was momentarily brought out of his thoughts of what to do with Happosai (kill or not) by a tremor occurring a couple of blocks away.

"Ryo's having good time I take this. Heh. I have to get the details off of him later. Right now, I gotta get my knees ready, 'cause I have some serious making up to do."

XxX

(With Ranma)

"Damn him!" The enraged redhead ranted, spin-kicking a lamppost so hard she knocked it off the hinge, scaring several people who proceeded to back away from her, "Just who the hell does he think he is talking to me like that?"

Ranma grumpily kicked a pebble and sent it soaring away like a rocket, desperately trying to relieve the frustration she felt at having been in such a heated argument with the one guy she thought she had a real friendship with.

"Geez. He didn't have to spray it like that; the jerk," Ranma grumped, letting her feet carry her away from downtown.

Imaging Yu-chan's irritated face burned Ranma up inside, her temper flying through the roof even as part of her felt a slight depression coming on. However she ignored that to focus on her anger and disdain for the big-cheese around Japan.

"So what if I don't wanna hit girls, it ain't a crime not to! He didn't have to act like that!" Ranma continued to rant as she ran up to a tree and flying kicked it to the ground, aggressively stomping on it several more times until it was nothing more but a pile of splinters, "Take that and that and that you damn stack of paper!"

After releasing some of her exasperation on that poor, poor tree Ranma panted and finally surveyed where her feet had taken her. She vaguely remembered it as a bird-park she had come to with Akane to share a bag of burgers with.

Ranma wouldn't mind reliving such a day with the youngest Tendo, being the strong one and not so pathetically outclassed it wasn't even funny, but then being so powerful had it draw backs, like for instance Ranma couldn't get a decent challenge out of Akane whenever he would wind her up.

Ranma felt obligated just to stand around and let Akane take out her rage on him just to keep her coming since there was such a massive gulf in class between Ranma's power and Akane's, any attack Akane hit Ranma with just never had any effect on the rude-boy, unless she dislocated his bones of course.

Ranma had to wonder why he/she had even let Akane do such damage to his/her bones. Thinking about it Ranma didn't want to lose Akane, not in a romantic sense, but in a general companion sense.

Ranma spent too many years with himself/herself and his/her old man Genma, and in that time Ranma seen people his/her own age come and go.

It wasn't nice.

Naturally, Ranma would cling to any teenage his age in a desperate attempt to gain a real friendship.

"Whew! Lettin' off hot air sure is thirsty work," Ranma said, sounding a tad more cheerful but the worrying look in her eyes said she hadn't entirely rid herself of the demons hunting her. Regardless of that Ranma scanned the area for a fountain and found it on the other side of the park.

Ranma smirked, "Mighta well waltz on ta that thirst killer in style," That would show Mr Big he ain't the only one who has skill… wait. Hold up. Hold that call. Come to think of it Yu-chan hadn't really demonstrated great skill or grace in any of his spars/fights Ranma had seen and took part in against him. He simply mowed down all of his opponents with sheer power, including her.

"Hmph! The time I finish blitzin through Granny's cakewalk courses that dummy'll have to put all the elbow grease and effort in tryin' to see me dance around him let alone move if he even wants to last ten seconds against me! Hahahahahahaha!" Ranma guffawed arrogantly.

Ranma would show Yusuke she could be just as powerful and as formidable as him.

With that off of her chest Ranma huffed satisfyingly before eyeing a bench opposite to the fountain she wanted to drink out of.

Ranma rocketed herself towards the bench while leaving a zigzagging pattern of afterimages behind her. Upon reaching the bench, Ranma glued her foot to it and wasted no time propelling herself directly at the tree. Rotating her body around, Ranma was able to plant her foot on the side of the tree.

With her Super Saiyan-esque aura of confidence springing to life and blazing powerfully around her body, Ranma sprung herself at the fountain with more than a little force necessary if the axing of the tree behind her was any indication.

"Woops, sorry Mr tree, I kinda dunno my own strength y'know, but I guess ya can become a pile of paper sooner rather than later!" Ranma excused sheepishly, a cheerful expression on her face before a thoughtful look replaced it, "Boy, it's gonna be a real pain in the arse to avoid collapsing things to the ground once I've released these power-limit whatchamajigs Granny put on me."

Genkai had told Ranma she was still as powerful as her old teammate Toguro, even with the minimum amount of Ki she had available to her now, thanks to the spirit cuffs.

Not that it mattered to Ranma, because it didn't! That Toguro-guy may have been pretty powerful back then but Genkai bluntly stated Yusuke would eradicate him with a mere burp if he was still around.

Ranma could not take any-more pride in her power increase until she knew in her heart she could stand on the same elite plateau as Yu-chan. One way or the other he would acknowledge her strength in their spars, and take her seriously.

Once Ranma set her mind to something she normally doesn't fail.

After Ranma had elegantly landed on the ground, she nonchalantly dusted herself off, and dipped her head low, while raising her hand to the tap to switch it on.

The cold water hitting her throat was refreshing after the pent-up frustration had overheated her body, but as Ranma finished her fill and switched off the water, an semblance of a cocky fanged grin appeared on the surface of the fountain.

"Oh! Look at me, I'm Mr-Unstoppable so I have a license to make guys feel like crap!" Ranma mocked, purposely feigning Yusuke's voice in a half-assed way, before gripping the edge of the fountain so hard she broke off a piece, "Damn you, making me feel this way, you damn bastard!"

The anger left Ranma's eyes, leaving a soft yearning look as more semblances appeared on the surface of the fountain. Ones which brought back the anger, (Yusuke slapping Ranma's ass and poking her boob,) and one which struck out like a sore thumb, one which also intensified the yearning look in Ranma's eyes.

It replayed the moment of which Yusuke lay his hand on top of Ranma's.

"Rats! It's the curse! It is drivin' me nuts!" Ranma roared, pulling at her hair, "There's no way, there's no flippin' chance in hell that I can even remotely li-." Ranma wasn't even going to finish that sentence, "It's the curse, it has to be. Once I rid myself of it then this nightmare can be put behind me."

Then what?

"Then I'll get back to being the best!" Ranma snickered, trying to convince herself.

In Ranma's mind, it was all the curse's fault. These weird butterfly feelings she was getting whenever she was around Yu-chan, her comfort of being in girl-form, her deviousness to flirt with men to get free stuff, and her overall confusion. Everything!

After all Ranma was a guy, a guy was crying out loud! Guys weren't meant to like others guys. Ranma had never felt any personal attraction to any guy, including Yusuke! Point. Blank. Period! Never!

It's never gonna happen! No way, Jose!

Ranma huffed proudly, "As soon as I make enough money to make it back to China I'll be free of these damned problems!"

Now how was Ranma going to go about getting that money was other problem.

As she pondered this, a familiar voice spooked her, "Hey, baby-cakes, how's it 'goin?" The probably the last person Ranma would want to see but he was here and already up to his old tricks, forcing Ranma's rear-end to jiggle and her to squeak with a blush on her face as she held her hands on her butt.

"You perv!"

"Aw, don't blame me. I was just helping myself to a lil treat. We all gotta craving for one of 'em every now and then y'know," Yusuke grinned in a cheeky way at the fuming redhead girl. Begging weren't his style so he figured he would waltz up to her and wing it; easy as square equalled X.

See! Yusuke was smart!

He was smarter than that doofus Kuwabara that was for sure.

Ranma was shaking her fist, "Treat, eh?" She whirled around ferociously, fist readied to smash the cocky grin off of Yusuke's face, "Treat this!"

Yusuke merely sidestepped her, hands neatly in his pockets while Ranma fumbled and struggled to her regain her balance, "Treat what? My grandmamma hands out better treats than that love."

Ranma scowled, gritting her teeth as she turned her head to glare at Yusuke, "Oh yeah! Keep yappin' prince! Cause Imma shove 'em down your throat. So bad you'll be beggin' to taste tomboy's cookin!" Ranma quipped, twisting her body to the side and throwing her leg outwards towards Yusuke's stomach.

Yusuke easily deflected it with his wrist, throwing Ranma off balance who was forced to improvise and back-flip, or risk falling on her ass, "Ooo. Nice. Did daddy teach ya that one princess?"

Ranma's furious expression increased as she advanced in on Yusuke just a couple of steps before launching herself off of her feet, landing on her side and rolling on her side like a wheel. Turning completely, Ranma beautifully executed multiple back-flips, an uncaring Yusuke observing Ranma fly upwards and hover above his head before gravity did its job.

Yusuke's hands swiftly came out of his pockets the moment Ranma's feet came crashing down towards his shoulders, moving his fingers in sync with Ranma's stomps, thus rendering them ineffective.

"Actually, I picked it up from a book called 'How to Kick a Douche's ass,' wrote by yours truly, douche!" Ranma replied savagely, a straining look on her face while Yusuke made an 'O' with his mouth in amusement, 'Damn him! He ain't even 'tryin! I gotta ruffle his feathers somehow!'

Ranma abruptly stopped trying to tenderize Yusuke's shoulders, Yusuke's left index finger straightened up, waiting to block Ranma's foot but it was left hanging as Ranma wrapped her legs around Yusuke's neck; then the feisty redhead snaked her body downwards in a perfect show of flexibility.

"Sweep up time!"

As Ranma's hands neared the back of Yusuke's ankles, the redhead felt a sudden pull as if gravity itself was working against her. She flew up Yusuke's muscled back at speeds faster than the human eye could see before being chucked dizzyingly at a tree 20 feet away from Yusuke.

"Kyaaaaa!" Shrieked Ranma who violently spiralled out of control while Yusuke lackadaisically gave his right wrist a shake, 'Rats, he countered that without even breaking a sweat.'

Ranma twisted and turned in a desperate bid to gain a little control of her momentum and managed to change the trajectory of her flight before crashing through the tree. Instead Ranma's feet landed inch perfect on the tree and she slid seamlessly down it; a fierce look on her face.

"Okay, plan B, blitz his ass so bad he'll be pig-boy," Ranma raced off to Yusuke, leaving shattered ground and dust in her wake, "Legs see you try this on for size, hot shot!" Ranma challenged, hurtling towards Yusuke who hadn't dropped his emotionless façade while simultaneously getting her hands ready, "**Kachü Tenshin Amaguriken: (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open fire)**!"

Ranma's fists were speedily launched at Yusuke's abdomen. To the casual observer it looked like Ranma had only threw one punch, but to a more veteran speedy warrior like Hiei for instance Ranma unleashed a barrage of punches so ridiculously fast it appeared as if she had only threw one.

'Thanks ya old ghoul. There's no way Yu-chan coulda blocked that! No way! I've got this in the bag now,' Ranma mused with her eyes closed, but as the adrenaline rush wore off, she began to feel less assure of herself since she could feel her fists sticking to two thin objects.

She hoped they weren't what she thought they were.

Ranma opened her eyes and her fears were confirmed, "No way," Ranma backed away, horrified that Yusuke had countered her fastest technique with no more but his mere index fingers, "That's can't be right!" Ranma shook her head stubbornly, "There must be some mistake!"

"You done?" Yusuke wondered with a grin, confusing Ranma, "That was some mighty fine moves you pulled off there Ranma. If I was anyone else I think I mighta been thrown in the deep end or worse: KO'd! Good job!"

"What are you so pumped 'bout?! Was all this just a game to you mister?" Ranma interrogated ragingly, slamming her hands on her hips, Yusuke holding up his hands in a placating manner.

"Well, kinda, I figured If I got your mind off of today, you'd forget about the whole mini scuffle between you and I and come back to mine to get some grub, solid enit?" Yusuke grinned, causing Ranma's jaw to drop, her stomach growling a little at the mention of food.

"You staged all of this just so I'd forget 'bout how much of a jerk you were earlier?"

"Duh. So did it work?"

"No! You're still a jerk mister!"

"Aw, c'mon! Quit being such a drama queen. I said sorry already!"

"I'm not being a drama queen! I have every right to be furious at you, Yu-chan! And for your information you didn't say sorry, pal!"

"Well it was implied I was. Ain't that what matters?"

"Hell no!"

"Aw, c'mon, don't throw me in the doghouse," Yusuke pleaded, but Ranma crossed her arms and turned away from the indestructible untouchable boy. It looked like Yusuke wasn't too cool for begging after all, "Please, Ranma! I'm on my hands and knees pleading for your forgiveness!"

That elicited a loud guffaw from Ranma since she knew Yusuke would do no such thing as much as she wouldn't do the same to him, "Hahahahahahahahahaha! That's a good one!" Ranma wiped a tear from her eye and Yusuke grinned in mocked innocence at her, "What else ya got from that ass of yours?"

"Come see for yourself, baby," Ranma threateningly shook her fist at Yusuke multiple of times, causing him to raise his hands up, "Playin', playin'."

It took a moment but Yusuke had something else.

"Grub?"

Because any dispute could be settled with food.

"Hold on a minute," Ranma said and whirled around to point one finger at Yusuke, "You already promised me a make-up dinner earlier mister. Whatever happened to that?"

"I'm still gonna make it for ya."

"Like right now?"

"Whatever m'lady wants."

"Good! 'Cause I'm starved!"

"Does this mean I'm off the hook?" Yusuke hoped.

"No. But I'm simply not gonna turn down a free meal. A guy's gotta eat after all," Ranma explained with a wink and Yusuke sighed, feeling like he had been ripped off.

A smirk soon came to Yusuke's face, "Would I be coasting on the prank if I offered ya a chance to learn the secret of my strength, Ranma-chan?"

"Secret of your strength?" Ranma seemed interested now, if not a little confused, "What secret?!"

Yusuke wiggled his finger chidingly, "Ah, ah, ah, ah, first you gotta do sumthin for me."

"What?" Ranma narrowed her eyes, "Are you forgetting you're the one in hot water, bub?"

"Yeah, but you know the drill, the whole you scratch my back and I scratch yours. They say it's a really good way to build companionship, y'know." Yusuke excused expertly.

Ranma groaned, "Whaddya want Yu-chan?!"

To Ranma's confusion, Yusuke gently glazed her cheek with the tips of his fingers, butterflies appearing in her stomach, "I just want you to loosen up," Yusuke whispered softly, then to Ranma's great surprise, Yusuke did something she wouldn't have anticipated him doing, even if he told her he was going to do it.

He kissed her on the cheek.

Ranma's mind shut down. Yu-chan had pecked her on the cheek.

A guy had just violated her face with his lips!

She couldn't help it! Ranma decked Yusuke straight into his face, turning his face to the side.

"What the heck was that?" Ranma freaked out, hopping a couple of inches away from Yusuke with a blush on her face.

Yusuke merely turned his face around with no signs of an injury on his face, "It's just a tiny peck, Red. Y'know same thing a mama or a sister gives a lil tyke. Geez. Guess I'm not surprised with Lard-ass as your old man."

"A tiny peck from a guy ta a next guy!" Ranma resorted. "I'm a guy, guys ain't meant to lock lips with other guys!"

Yusuke rapped his knuckles over Ranma's head.

"Hey, whatcha do that for?" Ranma complained while holding her head.

Yusuke cracked his knuckles before burying his hands inside of his pockets, "Y'know, they say pecks on the cheeks are a sign of respect in some countries," He winked in a hinting manner at Ranma.

"What kinda backwards ass country is that?" Ranma shouted.

Yusuke sighed, "Take it you've never seen the Godfather," The look of sheer confusion on Ranma's face told Yusuke she had not seen one of the greatest films that will ever be made in this generation of the 90s, next to Scarface, "You really haven't. Well we can fix that when we get to my place. Come on."

Yusuke's serious face was immediately on show, as the feeling of an upper A-reiki signature nearing him and Ranma set his curiosity-levels off.

"What is it Yu-chan?" Ranma asked. The redhead got her answer in the form of several dull thuds lightly echoing through the air, sounding conspicuously like a wooden staff, "The old ghoul?"

"Mine, mine, what a nice day it is for a pair of young lovebirds to take a stroll in the park," Cologne joked, hopping near Yusuke and a glaring Ranma on her long brown staff.

"And you are lady?" Yusuke asked. No chit-chat. Now he was all about business.

Cologne was very impressed by the young man's serious demeanour.

He really was the son of Raizen.

"You may call me Cologne, sunny-boy," Cologne said.

"Yusuke. Yusuke Urameshi. And if it's not too much to ask why don't you skip the small talk and spill it already," Yusuke suggested, never dropping his guard.

'Damn. When Yu-chan wants to be serious, he really rips off the kid gloves,' Ranma mused.

Cologne nodded, "Not one for niceties, eh, sunny-boy? Okay, I can oblige to that. Now really isn't the time for pleasantries, not when there's something I believe both of you will want to hear, especially you Son-in-Law."

Ranma pointed at herself, confused, "Me? Why me you old ghoul?" Cologne's answer elicited a flinch out of Ranma and a curious expression out of Yusuke.

"Because it regarding the re-emergence of the Jusenkyo Preservation Society."

* * *

**And that does it for this chapter. After this little mini arc is concluded Ranma can finally go meet Yusuke's friends and Keiko, Kurama, and Kuwabara will be given a break from University.**

**Next fight will feature Ranma and I'm sure you all know who he's gonna fight. The company's top dog has beef with Ranma since episode 48.**

**Now scaling Yusuke's student Ryoga was rather difficult seeing as his attributes vary from each other.**

**Ryoga's durability would be on the level of middle A-class warrior. Ranma had to keep on repeatedly slamming his fist in the same spot on Ryoga just to hurt him.**

**Ryoga's speed is hypersonic.**

**Ryoga's destructive power is town level plus.**

**Overall Ryoga's an upper B-class fighter.**


End file.
